Truth and Honor
by Kaiser Bonaparte
Summary: Althea was lost, alone and left to die at the hands of the monsters that stalked the night. However, when a man named Steve swoops in to her rescue, she embarks on a journey to find her way back home. But, at the same time, she is caught up in something far darker than Steve's bad attitude. AU where Minecraft is cross-bred with real life. Steve X OC later.
1. Chapter 1

Truth and Honor

 ***Brief Notice: Indications of time-passage have been excluded by the fanfiction system.**

 **Chapter One**

I was surrounded by trees. White trees, with ashy green leaves. I blinked at them a few times, then shook my head. Why were there trees? _I_ didn't put them there….

" _Get up_!" someone was shouting. I blinked again, clearing some of the fog from my mind. I became aware of the growling and clattering and hissing around me.

I sat up and saw a man nearby. An iron sword was clenched in his hand, the blade stained with gore and the edge chipped in several places. He himself was tall and leanly built, clad in a blue T-shirt and jeans and sporting a thick mop of messy brown hair.

"Wha—?" I slurred, looking around. The man in blue was locked in combat, holding back a small platoon of monsters.

"Get. _UP_!" the man replied, slashing through an assailing spider. It squealed and dropped to the ground, its legs curling up in a ball.

I sat up and fumbled around for a weapon until my fingers collided with the hilt of a stone sword. I took it and staggered to my feet, feeling sick and dizzy. My HP was down to three hearts.

I noticed an arrow sticking out of my chest.

However, I didn't have any time to contemplate it, as the stranger had pressed his back against mine and was fending off a zombie, leaving me face-to-face with a creeper.

I drove my sword forward, earning a hiss of pain from the creature. Patches of its skin started to flash, and its green-speckled body began to swell. I shoved the mysterious man to the side, but I wasn't quite fast enough.

I heard him grunt in pain behind me as I fell to the ground. My HP had dropped to half of one heart. My ears were ringing, and for a long time I lay on the forest floor, waiting for the final blow.

It didn't come.

I felt a hand lift the back of my head and drip something into my mouth. It was only partially warm and tasted like water from a rusty pipe.

"Honestly, you're pathetic." I heard the man say. I was torn between being offended and spitting whatever he was giving me into his face. But, after a moment, my HP bar began to refill. The blur in my vision faded away, and various cuts and scrapes across my body closed up.

I sat up and rubbed my head, then pulled the shaft of the arrow out of my sternum. It came out easily, and the hole it left soon sealed.

"Uh…thanks, I guess." I muttered, scowling at him. He held a glass bottle in his hand, beads of blue fluid lingering in the bottom. He tipped the contents into his own mouth, then tossed the bottle aside. It was dark, so I still couldn't see much of his face.

He got up, taking me roughly by the wrist and yanking me to my feet.

"Do you have a shelter?" he asked.

"Ow! Hey!" I protested to the rough gesture. "No, I was heading back to town when—"

"Which town?" the man began a brisk stride into the forest, his shoulders drawn and his head turning side to side. I followed after him, struggling to keep up with his pace.

"Iceridge," I told him.

"Then you're heading in the wrong direction." the man said sharply. "Iceridge is a fourteen day's journey to the north."

" _Fourteen_ _days_?" I cried. The man whirled and clapped a rough hand over my mouth.

"Do you want every spider jockey within a hundred miles to be coming after us?" He hissed. "Keep your voice down. You're already useless at combat."

I grabbed his wrist and tore his hand away.

"Stop saying that! A skeleton surprised me, it could happen to _anyone_!" I whispered loudly.

He rolled his eyes in the dark, then turned and started walking again. A spider lunged at him from between the trees, and with a flash of his sword, it fell dead at his feet.

I stayed close behind him, though I was tempted to kick him and run.

My legs were burning and the sky was pink by the time he stopped walking. The birch forest had long since changed into desolate foothills speckled with scraggly oak trees and random veins of coal.

"Sit." the man commanded. I did as I was told, collapsing onto a sizeable boulder and attempting to catch my breath. The sun was slowly rising, and I could finally get a look at his features.

Unfortunately, he was one of _those_ men: splendidly good-looking, but with the personality to match the face of a zombie villager. His skin was tanned and worn, his jaw was clean-cut and lined with stubble, and his eyes were the clearest blue I had ever seen.

"You're a jerk, you know that?" I panted.

"It's better that way." the man replied with a grunt. "What do you call yourself?"

"Althea." I told him, scowling at a spot near his head. "Friends call me Thea, but seeing as how you _aren't_ my friend, you don't get to call me that."

"Althea," he repeated. "A name that translates to 'truth.'"

There was a moment of silence, permitting the sky to turn a warm lavender color. The peaks of the mountains were stained with gold.

"What about you?" I asked. For a long while, I thought he wasn't going to answer. But then, he spoke.

"Call me Steve."

"And I bet that translates to 'Obnoxious Loser.'" I huffed. Steve chuckled coldly, then glanced at me. There wasn't any trace of a smile on his lips.

"No, it means 'honor.' And don't forget that I saved your life back there." I watched Steve draw a bow from his inventory and take aim at a creeper lurking further down the mountainside. He pulled back, and I noticed that the weapon shimmered with purple light.

"So, you're a sorcerer?" I asked when the creeper lay dead with an arrow in each of its eye sockets.

"No." Steve replied, storing his bow and replacing it with the simple iron sword I'd seen earlier. It looked about ready to shatter. "It's a simple Unbreaking II enchantment I picked up at a desert temple. Anyone with enough XP can do it."

"So you're an adventurer, then." I stood up and shouldered my sword. It was made of stone, rudimentary and very heavy, but it was better than a wooden one.

"You could say that." Steve replied. He opened his inventory and pulled out four apples and a handful of cooked fish. "This should last you several days. Head straight north until you reach Iceridge. Be careful about building shelters before it gets dark (there have been unusually high amounts of mobs around), try not to take any damage and avoid sprinting if you can."

I took the rations from him a bit hesitantly, stored them and watched as he started to walk in an eastern direction.

"Wait," I called. "You're just going to leave me out here?"

"Yep."

"With the monsters?"

"Yes."

"But my compass is broken."

"Get a new one in Iceridge."

I crossed my arms and harrumphed, watching him walk away. He didn't turn around or say "Just kidding" or come back towards me in any way whatsoever. Steve just kept walking.

In a few moments, he disappeared into the tree line.

I stood there for a few minutes, watching for him. Almost no one traveled alone out in the middle of nowhere, unless you were one of the Knights. But they usually wielded diamond swords and rode horses and owned more iron than the entire Iceridge quarry. Steve wasn't wearing any armor, and except for his enchanted bow, his equipment was pretty mediocre.

Which brings me to the predicament that I currently in. Traveling alone. In the middle of nowhere. With only three XP levels and a stone sword that would break after five more kills. The only items in my inventory were the food that Steve gave me, five sticks, three wooden planks, a single torch and my sword. Swell.

This whole ordeal began a few days ago, when I became separated from the trade caravan I was traveling with. Me, my friend Zara and about twenty other citizens of Iceridge were heading south to trade with the people of Hartwood. However, during the trip home, some of the younger villagers challenged me to a game of hide-and-go-seek. Unfortunately, I went too far into the forest, and after nearly an hour of sitting still and waiting to be found, I realized that the caravan had left without me. I didn't know why they would abandon me in the wild, but I suddenly found myself in the same predicament as before.

I was alone. In the middle of nowhere.

 **Chapter Two**

Rain sloughed down in sheets, soaking into the earth and dripping from the treetops. Mud slurped at my shoes with a disgusting sucking sound as I staggered along the bank of the stream, which had now swollen to the size of a river.

The only reason I hadn't stopped to make a shelter yet was because of the fleeting glimpse of a church steeple between the trees, indicating an NPC village.

NPC villages weren't like normal towns for two reasons: One, they were filled with mysterious creatures that farmed and conducted trade without any known outside resources, and two, they all looked _exactly_ the same. I'd only seen photographs of them, and they gave me nightmares for weeks after that.

But, if they had food and shelter, I had no choice but to confront them.

I came out of the trees and onto a gravel pathway. The village was made of the same three houses repeated over and over again, save for a cobblestone church and a blacksmith's forge nestled into a small grove of birch trees. It was well lit and I could smell food.

The first NPC came up to me when I passed by what looked like a library. It was taller than me, with an oblong skull and a fat, puffy nose that hung to its mouth. Its eyes were bright green beneath a unibrow.

"U-Um…do you…have a place to stay?" I squeaked. "A-and…food?"

"Yes." it replied. Its eyes were unblinking, and it didn't seem to mind the rain.

"C-Can I…uh…have some?" My teeth were chattering violently.

"Yes." it said. "For a sum."

"I don't really have anything." I muttered.

"Thirty-two wheat seeds." it said. The NPC was still staring at me, and it made all the hair on my arms stand up.

"I don't have any of those." I said. The NPC nodded at a small plot of farmland nearby, and I spent the next three hours collecting what it had asked of me.

It took the seeds from me in a pudgy hand, made a careful count, and then produced an emerald from its robes. It gave the emerald to me, then walked away. I looked at the glittering green stone with confusion and disdain. I knew that emeralds weren't used in crafting.

"Um...this isn't what I asked for!" I called. The NPC contentedly ignored me as it shuffled away.

" _Notch_ , were you raised in a cave?" a familiar voice scoffed. I turned around, and there he was. The rain plastered his thick, brown hair to his forehead and made his T-shirt stick to his chest.

"Are you following me?" I asked, ready to pull out my sword.

"No. I was coming here in the first place. You just have a horrible sense of direction." Steve gave an exasperated sigh. "Come on."

None of the NPCs intervened with our progress as Steve took my wrist and pulled me into one of the buildings, shutting the door behind him.

It was warm inside, and a bowl of mushroom stew rested on a counter. A crafting table and a furnace were tucked into a corner.

"Don't we have to pay them?" I asked, shivering inside the door.

"No. I don't think the Villagers actually have conscious thought." Steve said. He stripped off his wet shirt and tossed it over the edge of the table. He pulled a new one from his inventory and tugged it over his chest, then ran his hands through his hair to help it dry faster. "Which means you just wasted a lot of time collecting seeds."

I fumed.

"You were watching me and you didn't _say_ anything?" I cried.

"Hey, it's not my fault you're as dense as a lump of coal." Steve retorted. "You should have done your research."

"Stop doing that!" I shouted.

"Doing what?" Steve looked at me, his clear eyes unwavering.

"Insulting me!" I huffed. "You think that you're _so_ clever with your…fancy weapons and your good looks and—"

"Good looks?" Steve cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't think for a _minute_ that I like you!" I snapped. "Because you are the most arrogant, pig-headed man I've ever met, and you can go die in a lava-pit somewhere!"

Steve stared at me for a long time. Then,

"Are you trying to ask me to escort you home?" he asked.

"NO!" I shouted. "I would rather walk with one of the _NPCs_!" I turned and threw open the door and stepped into the rain. It was bitterly cold, and it was beginning to get dark. I didn't care. I just had to get as far away from Steve as possible.

I felt him grab my wrist in a vice grip.

"If you go out there tonight, you are going to die." he said with a solemnity in his voice that made the back of my neck prickle.

"How can you be so sure?" I snapped, trying to tear my arm out of his grip.

"Because…" he trailed off, his eyes turning towards the ground. The intense blue softened to a muted turquoise. Then he looked back up at me, but his eyes didn't turn cold and steely again. "Because the mob spawns are higher in a storm."

I studied him. His loss of conviction was somewhat startling, but I was certain of one thing now: He was hiding something.

"Why do you care?" I finally answered, shuddering as a trickle of bitter rain ran down my spine.

"I don't and I can't stop you if you leave. But if you value your life, don't let me out of your sight until you're safe at home." Steve said. His voice was almost soft. Almost.

"I guess you think you're coming with me, then?" I asked.

"Think of it in a way that means we're simply heading in the same direction." Steve replied. He let go of my arm, allowing the icy rain to run across my wrist. It was then that I realized how warm his hands were.

I scurried after him before any of the Villagers could get too close.

"Do you have any extra clothes? If you get too cold, it will deplete your HP." Steve asked.

"I know _that_." I said sharply. "But no, I don't have anything else."

"Then here." he told me. He opened his inventory and drew out a set of leather armor. He tossed them at my feet, then turned around.

I didn't move for a while, but then reluctantly changed into the extra set of clothes. The inside of each piece was lined with soft fur, like a jacket, but the whole getup didn't fit me very well.

I sat in a corner by the counter and rubbed my hands together.

"You can look now." I said quietly.

Steve sighed and sat in a chair placed by the table. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back, closing his eyes.

"You ought to get some rest. We're leaving at dawn." he said.

I heard no more from him the rest of the night, but I knew he wasn't asleep. Granted, I wasn't either, but I hoped that he didn't know that. I was too busy wondering why he had suddenly decided to help me and why I had let him even though I hated him with a fiery passion.

I dismissed it to the fact that I couldn't tell right from left, and that I needed someone to help me out with my worthless sense of direction.

However, I didn't trust him, not even a little bit. Steve was hiding something from me, and I was determined to find out what.

9


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Rain sloughed down in sheets, soaking into the earth and dripping from the treetops. Mud slurped at my shoes with a disgusting sucking sound as I staggered along the bank of the stream, which had now swollen to the size of a river.

The only reason I hadn't stopped to make a shelter yet was because of the fleeting glimpse of a church steeple between the trees, indicating an NPC village.

NPC villages weren't like normal towns for two reasons: One, they were filled with mysterious creatures that farmed and conducted trade without any known outside resources, and two, they all looked _exactly_ the same. I'd only seen photographs of them, and they gave me nightmares for weeks after that.

But, if they had food and shelter, I had no choice but to confront them.

I came out of the trees and onto a gravel pathway. The village was made of the same three houses repeated over and over again, save for a cobblestone church and a blacksmith's forge nestled into a small grove of birch trees. It was well lit and I could smell food.

The first NPC came up to me when I passed by what looked like a library. It was taller than me, with an oblong skull and a fat, puffy nose that hung to its mouth. Its eyes were bright green beneath a unibrow.

"U-Um…do you…have a place to stay?" I squeaked. "A-and…food?"

"Yes." it replied. Its eyes were unblinking, and it didn't seem to mind the rain.

"C-Can I…uh…have some?" My teeth were chattering violently.

"Yes." it said. "For a sum."

"I don't really have anything." I muttered.

"Thirty-two wheat seeds." it said. The NPC was still staring at me, and it made all the hair on my arms stand up.

"I don't have any of those." I said. The NPC nodded at a small plot of farmland nearby, and I spent the next three hours collecting what it had asked of me.

By now I was shivering violently. But I passed the handful of seeds to the NPC. It took the seeds from me in a pudgy hand, made a careful count, and then produced an emerald from its robes. It gave the emerald to me, then walked away. I looked at the glittering green stone with confusion and disdain. I knew that emeralds weren't used in crafting.

"Um...this isn't what I asked for!" I called. The NPC contentedly ignored me as it shuffled away.

" _Notch_ , were you raised in a cave?" a familiar voice scoffed. I turned around, and there he was. The rain plastered his thick, brown hair to his forehead and made his T-shirt stick to his chest.

"Are you following me?" I asked, ready to pull out my sword.

"No. I was coming here in the first place. You just have a horrible sense of direction." Steve gave an exasperated sigh. "Come on."

None of the NPCs intervened with our progress as Steve took my wrist and pulled me into one of the buildings, shutting the door behind him.

It was warm inside, and a bowl of mushroom stew rested on a counter. A crafting table and a furnace were tucked into a corner.

"Don't we have to pay them?" I asked, shivering inside the door.

"No. I don't think the Villagers actually have conscious thought." Steve said. He stripped off his wet shirt and tossed it over the edge of the table. He pulled a new one from his inventory and tugged it over his chest, then ran his hands through his hair to help it dry faster. "Which means you just wasted a lot of time collecting seeds."

I fumed.

"You were watching me and you didn't _say_ anything?" I cried.

"Hey, it's not my fault you're as dense as a lump of coal." Steve retorted. "You should have done your research."

"Stop doing that!" I shouted.

"Doing what?" Steve looked at me, his clear eyes unwavering.

"Insulting me!" I huffed. "You think that you're _so_ clever with your…fancy weapons and your good looks and—"

"Good looks?" Steve cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't think for a _minute_ that I like you!" I snapped. "Because you are the most arrogant, pig-headed man I've ever met, and you can go die in a lava-pit somewhere!"

Steve stared at me for a long time. Then,

"Are you trying to ask me to escort you home?" he asked.

"NO!" I shouted. "I would rather walk with one of the _NPCs_!" I turned and threw open the door and stepped into the rain. It was bitterly cold, and it was beginning to get dark. I didn't care. I just had to get as far away from Steve as possible.

I felt him grab my wrist in a vice grip.

"If you go out there tonight, you are going to die." he said with a solemnity in his voice that made the back of my neck prickle.

"How can you be so sure?" I snapped, trying to tear my arm out of his grip.

"Because…" he trailed off, his eyes turning towards the ground. The intense blue softened to a muted turquoise. Then he looked back up at me, but his eyes didn't turn cold and steely again. "Because the mob spawns are higher in a storm."

I studied him. His loss of conviction was somewhat startling, but I was certain of one thing now: He was hiding something.

"Why do you care?" I finally answered, shuddering as a trickle of bitter rain ran down my spine.

"I don't and I can't stop you if you leave. But if you value your life, don't let me out of your sight until you're safe at home." Steve said. His voice was almost soft. Almost.

"I guess you think you're coming with me, then?" I asked.

"Think of it in a way that means we're simply heading in the same direction." Steve replied. He let go of my arm, allowing the icy rain to run across my wrist. It was then that I realized how warm his hands were.

I scurried after him before any of the Villagers could get too close.

"Do you have any extra clothes? If you get too cold, it will deplete your HP." Steve asked.

"I know _that_." I said sharply. "But no, I don't have anything else."

"Then here." he told me. He opened his inventory and drew out a set of leather armor. He tossed them at my feet, then turned around.

I didn't move for a while, but then reluctantly changed into the extra set of clothes. The inside of each piece was lined with soft fur, like a jacket, but the whole getup didn't fit me very well.

I sat in a corner by the counter and rubbed my hands together.

"You can turn around now." I said quietly.

Steve sighed heavily and sat in a chair placed by the table. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back, closing his eyes.

"You ought to get some rest. We're leaving at dawn." he said.

I heard no more from him the rest of the night, but I knew he wasn't asleep. Granted, I wasn't either, but I hoped that he didn't know that. I was too busy wondering why he had suddenly decided to help me and why I had let him even though I hated him with a fiery passion.

I dismissed it to the fact that I couldn't tell right from left, and that I needed someone to help me out with my worthless sense of direction.

However, I didn't trust him, not even a little bit. Steve was keeping something from me, and I was determined to find out what.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It felt like I had only slept for a few seconds before Steve was roughly nudging my back with his shoe.

I grunted and scowled up at him.

"Get up. We're leaving." Steve tossed me my clothes and turned around to let me change. I didn't thank him for the extra set of garments as I swapped them out for my usual clothes—a white shirt over a pair of jeans and walking shoes.

I yawned ferociously and watched Steve pack up his furnace, crafting table and empty bowl, then start out the door. I followed him into the cold, droopy-grey morning.

"So, why did you decide to help me again?" I asked, eyeing the NPCs warily. They still milled around aimlessly, their wide green eyes unblinking and their dirt-colored robes soaked from last night's rain.

"Because you keep showing up wherever I am, and I'm worried that the next time I met you I would find your corpse." Steve replied bluntly.

"Then you care about me?"

"No."

"Then why does it matter to you whether or not I'm dead?" I pressed, smirking slightly. He turned his head and glanced at me.

"Because it's _really_ gross to loot the pockets of a half-eaten carcass."

"Ew! That's horrible!"

"Well, you asked." Steve grunted. He stepped off of the gravel pathway, glanced at where the sun was beginning to rise beyond the blanket of weepy grey clouds, and then started off at what I thought had been west.

"Why would you steal from a dead person anyway?" I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Supplies are limited." Steve told me. "And if you're going to question my methods, I can leave you here."

I grunted in reply.

It went on like that for a little while, but soon I ran out of methods to question. We fell into several hours of uncomfortable silence.

"Do you have a family?" Steve asked, a bit suddenly.

"Hmm? Oh, yes." I replied. "My mother and step-father and my two sisters. I also have four step-brothers and six step-sisters, as well as fourteen cousins, eight aunts, and three uncles that come over for Sunday dinner. Oh, and my three sets of grandparents."

Steve looked down at me, his eyebrows resting near his hairline.

"Then how in the name of Notch are you still sane with all those people around?" he asked incredulously.

"You'd know if you weren't such an antisocial jerk." I told him. "You learn not to mind it so much after a few years. And my step-siblings are actually really great people, after you get used to them. Gerald still picks his nose in public and Diane is in the city choir even though she's tone-deaf—" I broke off after that. "Sorry, you probably don't care about my family life."

"No, go on." Steve waved a hand. "It makes my job easier."

"How?" I wrinkled my nose.

"Then I know that there's someone out there that can take you off my hands before you drive me insane." he said. His voice was rough, but there was an undertone that suggested something else.

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual." I said haughtily.

Talking to him took my mind off of my aching legs for a while and made traveling with a guy I barely knew and liked even less not quite as terrible. However, as our shadows grew longer, the hole inside of me began to get wider.

"We'll stop here." Steve said as we crested a hill. The barren, flat plain surrounded us on all sides, only interrupted by a small herd of wild pigs and a few horses.

I slid to the ground with a heavy gasp, rubbing my sore muscles.

"Here. I'm going to go find some food." Steve said, drawing a bedroll from his inventory before turning and walking away. I picked up the item he left behind and spread it out over the dry, prickly grass.

For a long time, I just watched him tirelessly stride down the slope of the hill. I turned away when the picture turned fuzzy. I pulled my knees up to my chest and put my face against my arms.

I had spent three days hiding from monsters and scrounging for food after my caravan left me, and I hadn't had any time to think about what exactly I had been separated from.

I rarely ever left my family, and now I was all alone.

It wasn't until I heard Steve's footsteps that I managed to stop crying and wipe my tears off my face. He already thought that I was a pathetic loser; I didn't need him to see me cry.

He didn't say anything as he lit a small fire with a flint and steel from his inventory, butchered the wild pig he'd killed, and then started to cook each piece.

It was dark enough for mobs to spawn by the time he finished his task.

"Steve," I called.

"Yes?"

"What are you going to do about the mobs?"

"I'll keep watch. Here," he said. "Keep this in your inventory." He passed me half of his quarry, which I stored on command.

"Thanks." I grunted. My nose felt stuffy.

"Now, go to sleep. You look terrible." Steve said bluntly.

"Well, so do you." I retorted lamely. In truth, he didn't. The firelight cast an orange glow over his tanned skin and made his eyes swim with gold. In short, he was absolutely gorgeous and I would have been head-over-heels in love with him if he weren't such a cold-hearted sociopath.

Those pale, sky-colored eyes glanced in my direction, but he didn't give any witty comebacks or snide remarks. He just looked at me. For a really long time.

"W-what?" I finally managed to ask as a blush crept into my cheeks.

"This is going to sound really stupid," he sighed. "But tears aren't weakness."

"I wasn't crying!" I said loudly, attracting the attention of a few distant mobs milling around the plain. Steve pulled out his enchanted bow and picked them off before they could get too close.

"Keep your voice down." he reminded.

"I wasn't crying." I crossed my arms, glaring at him. "I…just have allergies."

Steve grunted and looked back into the fire, and I knew he didn't believe me. I frowned and lay down on his bedroll with my back towards him.

 _Tears aren't weakness_.

He was probably just saying that. I knew how he thought of me, and weeping over something that couldn't be changed would only make his disdain grow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Over the course of three days, the plains turned into a savanna, and the savanna gradually turned into a damp, humid swamp.

Steve remained as reserved and obnoxious as ever, only speaking to me when he felt it was necessary to insult me or to ask weirdly detailed questions about my family, neither of which filled the loneliness I felt every waking hour.

But, when we came to the edge of the swamp, he started to get nervous. You could tell by the way he clenched and unclenched his hands every few seconds and how his eyes never lingered on one place for long.

"If you're too scared to go in, we can find a way around." I said, only half teasing. Wisps of mist coated the ground and snaked between the scraggly trees like bloated worms, making the whole place seem even creepier than it already was.

"There isn't another way around. This is a valley between two mountain ranges. If we take the mountains, it will be another week of travel; aside from that, you aren't strong enough to be hauling yourself up hundred-foot cliffs all day." Steve said, his fingers tapping his right thigh rhythmically, as if he were thinking.

"Are you sure you aren't exaggerating?" I scowled at him.

"No, I am not exaggerating. I've done it before." Steve replied pointedly. A glance at his biceps could testify to his claim. "But if you see a cactus holding a stick, we're turning around."

"Did that creeper explosion hit you too hard?" I asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of a small crater that had we left behind a few hours ago.

"Trust me. What lives in here is much worse than a creeper." Steve said darkly. He started walking, his sword equipped.

I didn't even try to sleep that night, for more reasons than one. First, the ground was wet and muddy and cold. Second, the air was damp and heavy and cold. Third, I kept imagining demon cactuses and bloodthirsty shrubbery. Did I mention how cold it was?

So, I stayed up all night with Steve, attempting to help to ward off monsters and trying not to jump at every shadow. At some point, I had suggested that we keep walking, since I was already awake.

"I don't think you want to walk through this place in the dark." Steve simply told me, and that was enough to convince me otherwise.

Dawn came slowly, and even after that we waited an extra hour before setting out. The humidity clung to my skin, making my clothes sticky and creating a bitter chill whenever a lonely breeze swept through. To add to my misery, the mud had soaked through my shoes and socks while we walked.

My thoughts drifted back to my warm fireplace a home, where undoubtedly hot food was waiting and maybe a bath if I was lucky and got home before Sunday. Mother and Father would welcome me home with tears, hugs and freshly baked sticky buns paired with a mug of pressed cider from our apple trees

Most of my brothers and sisters would be dispersing to their daily activities by now. Gerald, Anna, May, James, Lewis, Donna, Gabrielle and Katie would be going to the schoolhouse, while Diane would already be at choir practice. My eldest brother, John, would be plotting ways to win the heart of the mayor's daughter over breakfast, and I would usually be starting the morning cleaning with Mother. It was strange to be doing something other than sweeping the floors.

I was so lost in thought that I barely noticed Steve collapse onto the ground.

"Steve?" I looked down at him. I hadn't ever seen him try to pull any sort of prank before, and I saw no reason for him to start now. He didn't move, so I nudged his shoulder with my foot. "Steve, this isn't funny! _Steve_!"

Suddenly a figure dropped from the trees and landed silently in front of me. It was tiny and shriveled and it had a horrible, half-rotten pig face set with weirdly clear turquoise eyes. Spiny green hide covered its back, while the rest of it was clad in muddy rags. It waved its scraggly arms and swatted at me with a gnarled stick decorated with bones and chicken feathers.

I screamed and staggered back, falling into a slimy mud hole. The stagnant water closed over my head and the swamp-grass growing at the bottom grabbed at my limbs like cold, grasping fingers.

I thrashed away, clawing back to the surface and trying to rip my sword out of my inventory. Muddy water dripped into my eyes, blurring my vision while the mire sucked at my feet.

I saw the creature raise its stick and smack the sword out of my hands. The blade snapped clean in half before it hit the ground.

"Leave this place!" the pig-faced monster rasped, pointing its stick at my neck. I let out a pathetic whimper and shut my eyes, waiting for it to sink its fangs into my neck or slash open my chest with its claws. I was going to die here with some sort of mob that I had never heard of and some random guy that I barely knew and liked even less.

I heard the sound of bones clattering against wood and braced myself for the sharp, blunt pain of something colliding with my head or the sharp sting that came with being impaled.

When my HP didn't so much as twitch, I risked opening one eye.

The hunched, prickly figure had disregarded me, instead shuffling over to Steve where it began to drag him away by the back of his shirt. I noticed a black-feathered dart sticking out of the side of his neck.

"Wait!" I cried, staggering to a drier patch of earth. Filth covered every inch of me and sapped the warmth from my body.

The creature didn't react to me or even appear to notice my call. It simply adjusted its grip, wrapping an arm around Steve's midsection, and then started off at a startlingly quick pace.

I began to run after it, tripping over my own feet where the mud refused to let go of my shoes. Eventually, I fell so far behind and became so frustrated that I took them off and threw them with all my might. Freed of a surprising amount of waterlogged weight, I broke into a headlong sprint, trying my best to avoid muddy pools and sinkholes.

However, the spiny green creature was disappearing into the mist, taking my only hope of seeing my family again with it.

"Wait! Stop!" I desperately cried. "I need him!"

I yelled in shock as my next footfall shoved through the layer of black algae covering the ground and didn't stop until my chest fell against solid ground. I clawed at the dark, spongy earth, pulling with my arms and kicking with my legs. But, my fingers kept slipping and each kick sucked me further into my inevitable death.

The pressure around my chest increased to the point that it was hard to breathe and nearly impossible to cry out for help. There wasn't anyone around to hear me anyway, so what was the point?

A spooky sort of calm settled over me as the earth slipped over my mouth. Unlike the other two times I'd had a near-death encounter, this time it was real, so why should I bother trying to fight?

My chest began to ache as my HP dropped from ten hearts to six in a matter of moments. A few seconds later, I was left with only two.

I said a quick prayer to Notch, asking him to keep my family safe and away from harm, as well as to help Steve escape from whatever creature had taken him captive.

Then, the pressure around my chest increased alarmingly, and I gave up as my singly remaining unit of life started to trickle away.

My lungs and throat burned when I got to the afterlife, and I heard someone talking. The voice was rough and gravelly and sent chills up my spine.

"N-Notch?" I groaned, peeling open my eyelids. I instantly shut them again upon seeing the decaying pig-face leering down at me.

I let out a groan.

I was still alive.

"I could kill her right now, Michael." the creature hissed. I heard a frustrated series of muffled grunts.

 _Michael_? Who was Michael?

I heard the creature shuffle across the floor, then return. Suddenly, a familiar lukewarm liquid splashed over my face, making me sit up and splutter. My HP began to rapidly refill.

The creature set a glass potion bottle like the one Steve had given me in a corner then stared at me with its weird blue eyes.

I saw my guide sitting against a wall, bound and gagged and looking furious. He too was caked in filth and mire, as if he had jumped into some sort of giant inkblot.

Or had somehow escaped and come back to save me….

"W-what do you want?" I murmured at the shriveled monster. When I looked closely, I saw that it was wearing a cape of leathery cactus hide.

 _A cactus holding a stick_.

Fear rose from the pit in my stomach up to my throat. This thing was what Steve had been worried about.

It continued to stare at me for a moment, as if lost in thought. But then,

"What did he promise you? Money? Power? Love?" the thing exploded, shaking its staff in frustration.

I fell back against the rough, clay wall of the tiny hut that sealed us in with our kidnapper.

"Nothing!" I replied frantically. "H-He's just showing me the way to Iceridge!"

Steve glared at the creature and nodded ferociously.

Once again, it seemed to be thinking.

"There's only one way to be sure." it decided. It shuffled across the room and flipped open a crude trap door, where it scurried down a rickety ladder. When it didn't come back right away, I turned and ran to Steve.

"We have got to get out of here!" I whispered, kneeling in front of him and pulling the gag out of his mouth.

"You don't say," Steve sighed exasperatedly. He shifted so that he was on his knees with his back towards me, and I could see the knots clearly. He was bound with what looked like several meters of braided cloth, coated in marsh slime and blackened with filth.

I tugged violently at the knots with my fingers, splitting a fingernail in the process, but the hitch wouldn't budge.

"Steve, don't you have something that could be useful?" I groaned.

"There's probably an Althea lying around somewhere. Maybe she could be helpful." Steve retorted.

By now, the pig-faced creature had returned and I scrambled back. It held another glass bottle in its gnarled hands.

"Do we really have to do this every time?" Steve sighed, glowering at the cactus-clad figure.

"There is no way I can trust you until I do." the thing rattled. It uncorked the bottle, murmured something in a language I didn't know, then started shaking its staff.

"Steve, what's going on?" I whimpered.

"Just an identity check." he rolled his eyes, looking like he would rather sleep on the creature's cactus hide.

The monster's raspy mantra rose in volume and tempo until it stopped so abruptly that it startled me.

Then with a sharp flick of its wrist, it was over.

"Steven, darling, I'm so sorry." the monster said sweetly, shuffling over to untie him.

Once his arms were free, Steve wiped whatever it had thrown at him out of his face.

" _Really_? Every time?" he shot a withering glance at the creature. "And don't call me Steven."

"Well of course I have to check…Michael is a master of deceit." the monster replied. It hobbled across the room to a sloppily made box, where it began to peel off its face.

I watched with a strange mix of emotions as it placed what looked to be a mask inside the box, then turned around.

What I thought had been a monster had really been a hump-backed old woman. She had limp white hair, tanned, leathery skin and those brilliant blue eyes that I had seen before.

Steve got to his feet and pulled out the little black plume of feathers sticking out of his neck.

"Blow darts? Don't you think that's a bit overkill?" he asked, rubbing his neck.

"I was prepared for Michael, not for you and your wife." the old woman groused. I felt my face flush.

"N-No…he's not—" I stammered.

"We aren't married." Steve said sharply. "We aren't even friends."

The hag suddenly laughed.

"I know." she cackled. "Only your mother would love an ugly mug like that."

Steve pressed his lips together and kneaded the bridge of his nose with his dirty fingers. I slowly stood up, keeping close to the wall.

"Steve, what's going on?" I asked. "Who is she?"

"She's what I wanted to avoid," he sighed. The old woman still howled and snorted with laughter, smacking her knobby knees. Steve looked up at me apologetically.

"Althea," he said. "This is my grandmother."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

I stared at him.

"Your grandmother?"

He nodded slowly, and I was pretty sure that he was blushing under the dirt spattering his face.

The old hag stopped laughing after several awkward minutes.

"Looks just like his mother, doesn't he?" she said, wiping tears out of her eyes.

"I guess—"

"How old are you now, Steven?" the old lady cut me off. Steve sighed and sat on the ground.

"Twenty-nine." he replied slowly. I blinked. I thought he was in his thirties or forties, but he was only four years older than me. "And we really should be going before it gets dark."

"Wait," I said, holding up my hands. "If he's your grandson, then who is Michael?"

Both went absolutely silent, as if I'd just broken an antique vase in a museum. Then, Steve looked me dead in the eye.

"If you value your life, you won't ask that question again." he said softly. His tone was gentle, but the phrase sent shivers up my spine. The old woman's eyes flicked back and forth between us. Then she turned around.

"I have something for you and your lady friend, Steven." she said, ignoring the tense moment. She went to the trapdoor and scuttled down the ladder. For a third time, silence fell, and I thought about what Steve had said. It wasn't a threat…it was some sort of warning.

His grandmother returned a moment later, her arms laden with what looked like a set of pale blue tools.

"Gran! Where in the name of Notch did you get those?" Steve cried. Gran dumped them onto the floor.

"They aren't for you." Gran snapped as he moved to get to his feet. "You've already gotten her into enough trouble to last a lifetime."

"I…I don't want these…." I stammered, looking at the diamond tools with a mixture of awe, shock and disdain. "W-why would you give me something like—"

"Trouble follows _him_ around like the plague; you'll need to defend yourself. And if I was you, I would part ways as soon as possible." Gran told me. I looked back at Steve, who was looking at me without any expression whatsoever. "Now get out of my house. You'll make it smell funny."

"Wow, I thought that _my_ grandma was a bit nuts, but yours is like some sort of crazy ninja-witch." I laughed nervously, trying to generate conversation.

The black, disgusting bog had almost magically turned into a lush, green moor over the span of a few hours. However, I quickly discovered that I couldn't walk beside Steve as we continued, as I kept falling into hidden sinkholes that he deftly avoided. Fortunately, none of them were deep and Steve was always near enough to grab my hand and pull me out. Either way, I followed behind him, only stepping where he stepped.

"I'm not quite sure anyone is as crazy as she is. I hate coming this way because without fail, she attacks me and holds me hostage until she can prove that I'm not an impostor."

He jumped over a muddy creek, then held out a hand for me.

"I'm not a little kid." I criticized, hopping to his side. He rolled his eyes and kept walking. I followed behind him carefully. "Anyway, why would she use blow darts on you? Surely she'd figure out how to identify you by now."

"I don't know, but I'm glad she didn't use a long-lasting drug. If I didn't wake up when I did, I wouldn't have been able to save your sorry rear-end."

"So it _was_ you!" I cried.

"Hey, I promised that I would get you home safely." he said gruffly. "Since you're a directionally challenged idiot. If you died, I would be breaking a promise."

I smiled at his back.

"I'm a _rich_ directionally challenged idiot now." I told him, referring to the set of tools in my inventory.

"Be that as it may," Steve said, dodging around an unusually green patch of moss. "You probably have no idea how to use items like that anyway."

"How hard can it be?" I shrugged, following him away from the hidden sinkhole. "You just point the sword and swing it…right?"

"Um, no." Steve told me. We crested a hill that overlooked another wide, flat plain. The horizon glowed pale white with desert sand, and I saw the cobblestone-and-wood patchwork of yet another NPC village. "We'll stop there to rest, refuel and clean up a bit before we cross the desert. After that, it's only a few more days to Iceridge. During that time, I can teach you how to protect yourself in case you ever get lost out here again."

We arrived at the NPC village when the moon had risen high into the sky. We'd been forced to make double-time due to an attack from a small platoon of zombies, spiders and skeletons. Steve had several arrows protruding from his arms after the skirmish, which we took the time to pull out when we were safe within the walls of an empty house.

Steve collapsed against a wall, his chest heaving with effort.

"You have enough food to regenerate, right?" I asked, rubbing a small gash in my leg left by a spider's fangs. Steve nodded. Then, his face split into a smile.

"That was close." he gasped. I laughed with him for a moment before we caught our breath and ate the last of our food. "Alright," Steve said, standing up. "Hold down the fort for a few minutes, I'll be right back. Try not to die if the chair moves."

I watched him leave, then return with a bucket of water. A moment later, he had pulled fifteen more from his inventory.

"The Villagers don't need running water, so they don't have anything other than a well." he explained. "Eight of these are yours, so go into the bathroom and wash up."

"Then how on earth do they take a bath and stuff like that?" I asked, taking the items into my inventory.

"I don't think they do." Steve replied, taking off his filthy shoes. I myself needed to buy new ones at some point.

I went to the back of the house, through a door and into a small bathroom. A bathtub was placed against one wall beside a tiny sink and toilet. When I tried the taps, I found that Steve wasn't lying. Not a drop of water.

I wondered why the Villagers would bother to create these structures if they didn't use them.

Fortunately, four buckets of water was more than enough to remove the layer of grime from my skin and clothes. I set my shirt and jeans out to dry, then wrapped myself in a blanket from my inventory.

"Your turn." I said to Steve.

He was faster than me by about fifteen minutes, and I noticed that he'd shaved his beard back down to a shade of stubble.

"You can probably trade for new clothes when you make a supply run tomorrow." he said, sitting at the table nearby. He was wearing his extra set of armor and I noticed that the close-fitting leather was only a few shades darker than the color of his skin.

"Me? Where are you going to be?" I blinked.

"Sleeping." Steve replied simply. "Tomorrow's Sunday."

"All day?"

"Yep." Steve told me. "Did it not occur to you that I need to rest at some point? I _have_ been staying up all night for a week now."

"What? How is that possible?" I stared at him. He didn't look or act tired at all.

"I'm simply more disciplined than you." Steve replied. "But either way, don't wake me up until Monday morning."

At that, he spread out a blanket and lay flat on his back, folding his hands over his chest and closing his eyes. Almost instantly, he was out like a light.

I watched him for a moment, studying him carefully. His face was so relaxed and his body so still that it was surreal. The seemingly permanent scowl had vanished completely, leaving him looking defenseless and vulnerable.

I sat next to him and reached out to brush back a strand of soft, brown hair that had fallen across his nose before quickly retracting my hand. My thoughts kept going back to each moment when he'd risked his life to protect mine, all for the sake of a promise.

 _"The name translates to 'honor.'"_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Gravel crunched underneath my feet as I carried a pail full of water from the well back to the house, ignoring the NPCs as I went past. A few of them called out their wares to me while I walked, as if they knew what I had in my inventory.

I opened the door with my elbows.

"Steve, this is your last warning!" I called, kicking the door shut and hefting my bucket. A few drops of water sloshed onto the floor.

When he didn't answer, stir or so much as twitch, I walked over to him and dumped the whole bucket.

He yelled and sat ramrod straight, spitting water out of his mouth and wiping it out of his eyes.

"What was _that_ for?!" he cried.

"It's Monday, and you sleep like a drugged log." I told him, putting the bucket with its seven brothers in my inventory. "We have to leave by noon, so get up."

Steve blinked at me a few times.

"Did you—"

"I finished the supply run this morning. I had your tools repaired and sharpened, your clothes mended and replaced, your food supply restored and enough crafting supplies to last a week. I also visited their local witch and managed to score a few potions." I said, brightly, throwing a new pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt at Steve.

He caught them, then glared at me.

"How did you get into my inventory?" he asked.

"I grabbed your hand and mimicked the motion you use to open it." I explained simply. His eyes widened. "But I only touched the things that needed to be repaired. I'm not about to go through your personal stuff."

"Good." Steve's shoulders sagged with relief. "But how did you afford all of this stuff?" He raked a hand through his wet hair and stood to wring out his blanket.

"Remember that emerald I picked up in the last NPC village? I used that to trade for beef, which I gave to the cleric for glowstone, which I traded to the librarian for books, which I traded again to the cleric for seeds. After that, I went to one of the farmers and worked in the fields for a while for a few more emeralds, and I swapped those to the blacksmith for equipment. Then, I went back to the farmer and earned three weeks-worth of food."

Once again, Steve was staring at me. I could almost see the gears turning inside of his head.

"And _you_ did all of that." he finally said.

"Yes."

" _While I was sleeping_?"

"I can always go and trade your stuff for other things if you want me to." I planted my hands on my hips.

"No, no, it's just fine." Steve put up his hands defensively. "I…just didn't expect you to…you know…."

"You didn't expect me to actually get anything done?" I cocked an eyebrow at him. "You sexist pig!" I punched his arm with little effect. "Now get your stuff, _Steven_. We're leaving."

"Don't call me Steven!" he cried indignantly. "It's _Steve_."

We left soon after that, but neither of us mentioned the mysterious white-leather book or the scrap of paper sitting in the corner of his inventory.

However, when I lay down to sleep that night, rest didn't come to me. I kept wondering what exactly he was hiding from me. Two items I had never seen before, a grandmother that lived in total isolation, and an unknown person named Michael.

Maybe his family owed a debt to Michael. Or maybe Michael was some sort of ruler somewhere, and they had broken the law. Or possibly Steve was being hunted by some sort of assassin.

Eventually, the curiosity was too much to bear I opened my eyes.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

Steve's head jerked upwards.

"Nothing." he said sharply, stuffing what I presumed to the piece of paper that I had been pondering into his inventory. "I-I thought you were asleep."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Then I got up and moved to sit beside him, gazing at the fire.

"Steve," I asked.

"Althea," he replied, shifting uncomfortably. I wondered what the best way to ask him would be.

"What could be so bad that you can't tell me?" I finally asked, turning my gaze from the flames to his face.

His expression turned as cold as iron.

"Althea, I told you not to ask me about this." he whispered.

"I'm sorry." I sighed. "But I want to know why you're so…distant."

"It isn't any of your business." Steve said harshly. I grabbed his arm with both hands, marveling at the touch of his skin under my fingers.

"I know it isn't…but you're my friend and I want to help you." I said. Steve roughly tore out of my grip and got to his feet.

"We _aren't_ friends, Althea." he growled. "We can't be."

"What is the worst that could happen?" I asked. I was starting to become frustrated. Then, he looked me dead in the eyes, his gaze as cold and as hard as the ice that covered the river during the winter. The firelight shadowed his face and somehow made him more frightening.

"You could die." he breathed. "You and everyone you love could be slaughtered before you even have time to call my name. And I wouldn't be there to save you anyway."

At that, he turned away.

"Steve," I murmured in quiet shock, my heart pounding against my ribs.

"Pack up your things. We're leaving now." he muttered. He quickly doused the fire and started to walk northward while I gathered my blankets into my arms.

My hands were shaking after what he had said to me, and my breath came in jagged gasps.

Apparently, whatever Steve was hiding was darker than I had first anticipated.

The first several days of desert travel were occupied by cold silence. Steve only spoke to me when he was trying to teach me how to use my sword, and even then, he rarely said more than two or three words at a time.

He was always tense, even more distant than ever, and believe it or not, I missed him insulting me. Even that would have made our trek through the desert better.

On our third day of trudging through powdery sand dunes and burning sun, Steve stopped so suddenly that I ran into his back.

"What's with you?" I snapped miserably.

"Do you have any rope?"

"Yes. I bought some at that last village." I said, attempting to unstick my shirt from my chest with my fingers. "Why?"

"There's a desert temple."

"So what?"

"We're going to go check it out." At that, Steve took a sharp left turn and walked straight towards an oddly-shaped sand dune. I followed him, glowering at his back and wondering what could be so important as to take a detour from our course.

We came to the base of the dune, and I noticed a little bit of orange poking out of what looked like two sandstone towers buried under the sand.

Steve went to a spot between the towers and started to dig with his hands until he uncovered an opening. In a few more seconds, the black square had expanded into a small door.

Steve gestured to me, and I followed him through the door into a black, musty expanse. The air suddenly got very cold, and I thought I could hear skeletons milling around in the dark.

Steve gripped his sword and lit a torch in his off-hand, flooding the enclosure with light.

I had just enough time to duck as a skeleton took aim and fired at my head. The arrow bounced off of the carved wall behind me and clattered to the floor.

"Remember what I taught you, Althea." Steve said calmly, standing to the side after making a sweep of the room. There was only the solitary mob standing in the corner.

I nodded and raised my diamond sword. It was light in my hands, and the keen edge glinted wickedly in the glow of Steve's torch.

The skeleton drew back its bow for another shot, which rushed at me with a hissing sound. I raised my blade and smacked it aside, then dashed forward while the mob was reloading.

I slashed across its chest, severing a few of its ribs from its sternum.

"An NPC could have done better than that." Steve called. I grit my teeth, biting back a retort.

Undeterred, the skeleton nocked another arrow to the string of its bow and fired it. I cried out in pain and staggered back as the tip sunk into my shoulder with a sharp _thwack_.

I switched my sword to my left hand and made a blow to its head, cracking open the pearly white skull. It fell dead soon after that.

I heard footsteps and I felt Steve take my uninjured arm.

"Mediocre at best." he told me as he turned me around. His rough, worn fingers wrapped around the shaft of the arrow, and I closed my eyes while I wait for him to yank. He did, quickly and swiftly and with more pain than I cared to show.

"What can I do better?" I whimpered, trying not to let tears well in my eyes. It felt like a few pieces of the arrowhead had come loose in my flesh. However, after a few bites of food, it started to close up.

"Work on improving your reaction time. You need to be faster and more accurate." Steve told me, wiping up droplets of blood with a rag.

"Okay." I said.

"Now, give me that rope."

I opened my inventory and drew out the item, which he took and slung over his shoulder. Then, he started walking towards the center of the room.

A richly painted mural covered the floor, depicting a star surrounded by hieroglyphs. Steve got to his knees and started feeling around the floor.

"When you reach the bottom, there will be four chests and a pressure plate. Whatever you do, _don't_ touch the pressure plate. Take what you want from the chests, and then yell when you're finished."

"What about you?" I asked.

"I'll be up here to pull you out. Ah!" his fingers found a catch in the floor, and with a small push, a large slab in the center of the room slid back to reveal a deep, black pit. Stale air wafted out of the hole like a draft in a cave.

When I looked over the edge, I could barely see the bottom.

"What? I'm not going down there!" I cried.

"Alright," Steve shrugged. "Then I'll go down and _you_ can pull me up, but I don't think your noodle-arms would do much good."

I lifted slightly. At least he was back to insulting me. After the other night, I felt as if I had stepped on sacred ground without Notch's permission.

"Fine then." I snorted. Steve threw me the end of the rope, which I tied around my waist.

A few moments later, the edge of the pit was scrolling past my vison as cold darkness engulfed me.

"Stop," I called when my feet touched the ground. Through the dimness, I could see the four chests and the pressure plate, just like Steve mentioned. I opened the nearest box and nearly choked on my spit for more reasons than one.

A saddle, a gold ingot and an enchanted book greeted me from between piles of bones and rotten flesh. I quickly extracted the valuable items and shut the chest before I passed out from the stench of decay.

The other three chests had a strange mixture of gold, iron and decaying matter in them, and I wondered what exactly had been cut up and stored in a box.

"I've got the items!" I shouted to Steve, my voice bouncing off of the walls of the pit. "Now, pull me up! It stinks down here!" I hollered. It didn't take long for him to bring me back to the surface.

"What did you find?" Steve asked, pressing the notch in the floor and replacing the slab.

I grinned at him.

"Enough to feed my family for an entire year." I showed him my haul: twelve iron ingots, eight gold ingots, the enchanted book, the saddle, and a handful of redstone dust.

"Not bad." Steve said. "Are you sure you didn't leave anything behind?"

"I only left the rotten parts." I replied. "Should we keep going?"

"Nope," He put his hands behind his head and leaned back against a pillar, crossing his ankles and closing his eyes. "It'll be dark in less than an hour anyway, and this is a good shelter. You've probably noticed the spawn rates in the desert."

"Ah," I said, sitting down with my legs crossed in front of me. "Should I start a fire?"

"No. It would suck out our oxygen." he said casually, as if he dealt with this kind of problem continually.

I pulled one of my blankets out of my inventory and tugged it around my shoulders. I folded the other one in half and spread it out over the dusty stone.

"Steve?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Mmn?"

"I'm sorry about the other night."

Steve opened one eye at me. "I mean, I know it wasn't any of my business," I continued. "But I guess I was just…curious. Because…you know…I trust you and I kind of thought that we were friends and—"

"Yeah, I'm sorry too."

"What?" I blinked.

"I probably shouldn't have gotten mad at you." he straightened and rubbed behind his neck. He made several failed attempts at starting another sentence before he began from scratch. "Look, Althea, it isn't that I hate you—because I don't—and I'm not proud of what I said, but there are things that I haven't told anyone who doesn't already know…because if I did…."

"They would be in danger." I finished softly.

"Exactly."

Suddenly I smiled.

"Ha! I knew it! You _do_ care about me!" I smirked. Steve's face turned into a scowl.

"No, no, no…it isn't like that. I just feel like looting your body would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I promised to bring you home but didn't." he said defensively.

"Uh-huh. Sure." I teased.

Steve opened his mouth and held up a finger, but nothing came out.

"You know what?" he finally decided. "This conversation is over. Go to bed."

However, late at night I was awoken all at once by a guttural croak, a cry from Steve, a furry hand pressed over my mouth, and a pair of glowing violet eyes.

And then I was gone.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

There was a puff of shimmering violet dust, and then the walls of the desert temple dissolved, revealing a scraggly forest of dead-looking trees.

I screamed into the long-fingered hand sealed over my lips.

I was completely surrounded by mobs. Zombies, skeletons, spiders, creepers and tall, stilt-like creatures with short black fur and glowing purple eyes stood at attention between the trees.

I waited for them to rush at me, to tear me to bits and load me full of arrows in a heartbeat, but none of them moved. They only stood there, clacking and growling as they stared at me.

"Release her," a voice called softly. The hand lifted from my mouth, allowing me to shriek and stagger away from my captor. My heart threatened to break through my ribs as I fell to my butt in the sand.

"Steve!" I yelled, trying to gather my wits enough to pull my sword out of my inventory. There was no way I could fight this many mobs on my own. " _Steve_!"

"Don't worry, they aren't going to hurt you. They work for me." I felt a hand on my shoulder and I nearly decapitated the man it belonged to.

He bore an unsettling resemblance to Steve, dressed in a blue shirt and jeans and sporting thick, chocolate-colored hair. However, his clothes were spotlessly cleaned and neatly pressed, no sign of rip, stain or blood spot. His hair was neatly combed and washed, and any trace of a beard was cut back to a mere shadow.

"W-Who are you?" I gulped. It was then that he opened his eyes. I hadn't noticed that they were closed before, as it was late at night, but what I saw chilled my blood. His eyes had no irises or pupils.

"No one of particular importance." the man said, sitting beside me. I shied away from him, my hands shaking. This earned a laugh from him, and I noticed how soft and rich his voice was. "You must have noticed my disability. You see, I've been blind since birth. My brother probably left that little detail out when he told you about me."

"Y-Your brother?" I asked, still looking at the mobs standing at the perimeter.

"Didn't Steve mention me?" the blind man looked at me, tilting his head. Then, all the pieces fit together.

"You must be Michael," I murmured quietly.

"Ah, so he did talk about me!" Michael gave a smile.

"Well…not exactly. Your grandmother told me about you." I told him carefully, eyeing the mobs that were under his control.

"Oh." Michael looked faintly disappointed. "Nana was always more considerate than Steve. Then again, just about everyone is. You would think your twin brother would be nicer."

I laughed, despite the fear coursing through my veins.

"Yeah…he's pretty—"

"Bitter? Distant? Cold?" Michael offered. "Does it feel as if he doesn't appreciate anything you do for him?"  
I glanced up at Michael, still not quite able to look straight at his sightless eyes. Somehow he was gazing right at me.

"Exactly," I breathed.

"I'm just glad that I managed to help you escape," he got to his feet and held out a hand. "He was probably going to leave you in the desert forever or something like that."

I blinked, taken aback.

"No…he was bringing me home. He promised that he would take me back to my hometown." I said. I hesitantly took Michael's hand and let him pull me to my feet. His fingers were soft and uncalloused, unlike the stiff, worn hands of his twin.

"But how can you trust him when he doesn't trust you?" Michael tilted his head to the side. "You don't really know anything about him. He didn't even tell you about what he did to his family."

I froze.

"What?" I whispered. I felt Michael's soft hands gently cup my cheeks.

"Althea, I don't need my eyes to know how special you are." he said, changing the subject. Alarm bells went off in my head, but they were drowned out by the soft, gentle melody of his voice. "I can give you anything you possibly want, I can be everything that Steve is and more—I can even bring you back to your family with a snap of my fingers…because a beautiful, talented young woman such as yourself deserves to have her wishes granted." I raised my fingers to his wrists and leaned into the warmth of his hands, feeling lightheaded. Just _listening_ to him speak made me desperately want to trust him.

"Wait…" I murmured sleepily. "What did Steve do?"

"I've been trying to get you away from Steve for days now. I know all about you and what you need—" he continued.

"What did Steve do that was so bad?" The voice of warning in my head was doing more actual speaking than I was. My head was reeling, and I couldn't tell if it was fear or something like desire. Michael's face took on an expression that made me instantly regret upsetting him.

"He murdered us. Everyone except me." Michael said bitterly. "And now he's going after you too. That's why I have to protect you from that same fate. That man is a monster."

" _That's a lie_." A familiar voice snarled. Michael gasped and stepped in front of me. A handful of zombies fell dead, revealing Steve standing in the moonlight. His chest was heaving, as if he'd been running.

"Althea, stay behind me." Michael said gently. I felt his fingers lace through mine, sending little tingles up and down my spine.

"You're looking well, Michael." Steve spat, drawing his sword. The mobs surrounding the clearing hissed in agitation. "Or should I use your real name, _Herobrine_?"

"You can call me whatever you like. It's not like a beast such as yourself even cares." Michael replied. "I'm stronger than ever, and what are you? A murderer. A liar. A common thief. Mother would be so ashamed…oh, wait, that's right…she's dead. And it's all your fault."

Steve's jaw clenched and he looked at the ground.

"Steve, he says that you killed your family." I piped. Part of me didn't want to believe that it was true, but all of the pieces seemed to fit.

His gaze turned up to me, his expression contorted with pain and despair.

"It _is_ my fault that they're dead, but no, I didn't kill them." he said softly. "He was the one that—"

"See? He admitted it! He's a monster, Althea." Michael said, stepping in front of me. He turned and grabbed my hands in his, holding them to his chest. His pale, blank eyes seemed to glow in the dark. "There's no way he can be trusted."

" _Don't_ listen to him!" Steve cried, slashing open a creeper that decided to get to close. "That isn't Michael! Michael died a long time ago."

To my own mind's protest, I backed away from Steve's brother.

"How do I know I can trust either of you?" I asked softly. I looked back and forth between them, separate halves of my mind calling out for the opposite twin.

"Because _I_ can give you anything you have ever wanted. Power, money, fame, love, adoration…anything you ask me for, I will give you without a second thought."

Steve didn't say anything for a short while.

"If something happens to you, I won't be able to forgive myself." he finally said, gazing at me with an expression that I hadn't seen on him before.

"How many other girls have you said that to?" Herobrine countered. "How many corpses have you cut to pieces on one of your silly 'promises'?"

 _How many times has he proven himself to you_?

Herobrine stopped talking when I took several footsteps towards Steve.

"What are you doing?" he hissed. The gentle, honey-coated lull of his voice was gone, replaced by a tone of bitter malice. "You're supposed to join me!"

I couldn't think of anything to say as I drew my sword out of my inventory, stood beside Steve and grabbed his hand. I gave his fingers a tight squeeze.

"Thanks." he whispered, giving one of his rare smiles. "But don't die on me yet. Things are going to get hairy really quickly, and I have to explain everything when we're done here."

"I won't. And you better have a good reason for this." I told him.

Suddenly, the air dropped twenty degrees. Herobrine's eyes had started to shine with a pale white light, and the shadows were gathering around him.

"Get them." he growled.

What happened next was a blur of hacking and slashing and trying to keep Steve within arm's length. I sustained several nicks and bites across my arms and fingers as I fought, and my muscles were starting to burn from the effort of fighting for more than thirty seconds.

However, when I hacked down a skeleton, I was met by a pair of glowing white eyes. Suddenly, all of the muscles in my body locked up.

"I have plans for you." Herobrine said softly, standing right in front of me. My jaw was locked shut, trapping any words behind my teeth. "So I will be seeing you very soon, Althea. But I warn you…"

He leaned in very close, his lips against my ear.

"You should have joined me when you had the chance."

Then he pressed his fingers against the side of my forehead, and I drifted into blackness.

I awoke screaming.

"Woah, woah, Althea," Steve's voice was the first thing I heard aside from my own yelling. I felt his hands gripping my shoulders. "Althea, don't worry, we're safe."

I stared at him, my chest heaving raggedly as my cry cut out.

"B-But…Michael…he…you…." I choked out. My vision was blurred with tears. The details of the nightmares were ebbing away, but I remembered blood. Lots of it.

"It was just a dream," Steve said, looking me dead in the eye. I tried to regain control of my functions, but to no avail.

I fell forward and began to sob into his chest, desperately clutching at Steve's T-shirt. His arms hesitantly wrapped around me, as if he didn't know what else to do, but it was more comforting than anything else he could have done at that moment.

After a long time, I managed to rein in my tears and pull away from him.

"T-Thanks." I croaked, hiccupping slightly. "I…just had this…scary dream."

Steve nodded.

"He does that. He promises to make your dreams come true, but in reality, he shows you your worst nightmares." he said softly.

I gazed at him, wiping my nose on my sleeve.

"So…you're going to tell me after all?"

"It's the least I can do. I got you into this mess, and after what just happened, I think that you need to know why."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

 ***** **Brief Notice:** **Special thanks to** ** _Watcher321_** **and any and all who read this fic.**

I sat close beside Steve, wiping stray tears from my eyes and glancing around the makeshift shelter he had made out of the back of a cave. Any picture of Herobrine's nightmare had faded to a mere shadow of what it was a few minutes ago.

Steve rested his elbows on his knees and drew the scrap of paper from his inventory, holding it delicately in his fingers.

"This is my family," he said quietly. I looked at the paper, and through the flicker of torchlight, I saw that it was a photograph of five people.

The first was a tall, brown-haired man with olive skin who had his arm around a woman with the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. However, her gaze was unfocused and covered by a milky film to match one of the two little boys beside her. Each brother looked just like his father in nearly every aspect, save for the bright blue eyes. The last person in the picture stood beside her father—a young woman with soft blonde hair and eyes to match her brothers'.

"This is my father, Aaron and my mother, Cassandra." Steve said, pointing. "That's my sister Marion and that's me and Michael."

"Hold on a moment," I said, squinting at the photograph. "Earlier your grandmother said that you looked like your mother. Your mother is blonde."

Steve glanced at me, looking faintly amused.

"Gran just says that because she doesn't like my father. She didn't think it was right for her only daughter to fall in love with a miner." he said. "I can see why she would think that…Mother was a woman who deserved a prince."

"You were so cute back then," I acknowledged after a moment, looking at the smiling, skinny little boy hugging his twin brother with one arm. "What happened?" Steve chuckled softly.

"I grew up." he said. Then his smile faded. "Not that I had much of a choice."

He drew a breath, then began.

"Michael and I were nine years old when he started to distance himself from us. He was always shy and reserved, but he suddenly began to be antisocial and secretive, as if he were hiding something. My sister was the first to discover that he'd been sneaking off into the forest at night with a mysterious book. We tried to get him to tell us what the book was and why he was hiding it from us, but he got angry and lashed out at my sister. She was badly hurt, and it was then that we knew something was terribly wrong. We locked Michael in his room and went to the town cleric, taking the book with us. When we got there, Father Alexander told us that the item Michael had been keeping from us was one of the four Books of Notch, written by a lost race. When found, they could be used as powerful tools for the benefit of our realm."

"I think I've heard of them…but I thought it was only a legend." I said.

"That's the problem." Steve told me. "Legends are a little different each time someone tells them, and Father Alexander was only half correct. Two of the Books were authored for the sake of good, written by the Valkyries and the Dragon Riders, while two of them were meant to destroy. The Withers and the Shade were a wicked and cruel race that ruled over half of the world in darkness and tyranny, while the Valkyries and the Dragon Riders maintained a realm of light and peace."

"How do you know this?" I asked in quiet awe. Steve pulled the white book I had seen the other day out of his inventory and set it in his lap.

"Because I have the Book of the Valkyries." Steve told me. He flipped open the worn, brown pages, displaying diagrams and words. "This is an accurate history of what happened almost a thousand years ago, and long story short, the four races fought and ended up banishing each other. The Withers and the Shade were imprisoned in the Nether, and the Valkyries and the Dragon Riders were sent to the End. Only their Books were left behind, and those were scattered across the world."

"And your brother found one?"

"We aren't sure how he got it, but yes, Michael happened upon the Book of the Shade. Father Alexander told us not to worry, that Michael had probably just eaten some poisonous berry and was acting strange due to hallucinations—if a blind boy could have them. However, the next day, Father Alexander was found dead over the altar, a black iron sword through his heart. This wasn't an accident, because when Father and I came home, Marion and my mother were dead, ripped to pieces."

I drew in a breath.

"Oh my Notch," I whispered.

"Michael stood in the hallway, soaked in blood and carrying that book in his arms. Father told me to run, to leave and never return, and in a last desperate effort to save me, he burned the house down. I haven't been back to that place since."

Silence fell like a stone dropped into a lake.

Finally, I reached out and placed my hand against his wrist.

"Steve, I'm sorry," I whispered. "But it wasn't your fault. There wasn't anything you could have done."

"You're wrong. Michael was my brother…I should have been there for him." Steve said bitterly, shaking his head.

"How? He was possessed by a demonic book!"

"I don't know!" Steve cried, getting to his feet. He raked his hands through his hair and leaned against the stone wall. "But Herobrine was right when he called me a murderer. It was my fault that they were killed."

I went to him and grabbed his arm.

"This happened, like what…twenty years ago?" I asked.

"Exactly twenty years ago." Steve confirmed.

"Then you've been running from your past for two entire decades. Nothing is going to change, Steve." I told him.

"What do _you_ know?" His tone was a half-hearted attempt at being rough.

"Only what you've told me. You've been running from Herobrine so that you can protect yourself from what he did to you, and this whole time you've been blaming yourself for something that you didn't have any control over."

"I've been running from Herobrine to protect innocent people!" Steve shouted, turning on me. "He's a monster, and he isn't going to stop until everyone close to me is dead!"

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

Steve went silent for a while, his icy blue eyes boring into me. I stared him down, my jaw clenched.

He raised his hands and clasped my shoulders.

"I am going to bring you back to your family. And then I'm going to keep running. It's the only thing I can do to protect myself and the ones I care about." he said.

"Althea, we are _not_ getting a horse." Steve said.

"Why not?" I asked, reaching out to the big, white mare in front of me. She let me pat her felted muzzle, then stroke her neck.

"Because…um…." Steve protested.

"It will cut our travel time in half, plus make it harder for Herobrine to catch us." I told him, climbing onto the mare's back. She tolerated me for a little while, then nickered dangerously, prompting me to slide off and feed her more carrots from my inventory before she would allow me to saddle her.

"Well…uh…I said no! Now, come on!" Steve huffed.

"Are you scared?" I taunted.

"Nuhyas."

"What the heck is a 'Nuhyas'?"

"Nothing. Get off of that thing so we can get going." Steve planted his hands on his hips and glowered up at me.

"You _are_ scared!" I jumped out of the saddle.

"I am _not_!" he cried.

"Are so."

"Am not!"

"Uh-huh,"

"Not!"

"You totally are."

"I'm really not."

I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him. His tanned face was stained with pink.

"Prove it." I challenged, smirking.

"I don't have to justify myself to you!" Steve cried indignantly, glaring back at me.

"You wouldn't have a problem with it if you weren't a really big baby." I poked the center of his muscular chest.

"I am not a baby." he growled. I walked behind him and shoved him forward.

"Then ride her!"

"OH NOTCH NO." he shouted as he stumbled forward, then staggered backwards. He fell onto his butt and scrambled away from my new mount, who regarded him with round, dark eyes.

"Admit it. You're scared of horses." I giggled. He glared up at me, biting his lip and screwing up his face.

"Okay…yes…I'm scared of horses." he said bitterly. "Are you happy now?"

"Why?" I asked, smiling at him and offering him my hand.

"I don't know! They're just…big and…creepy-looking…and _big_." Steve muttered, taking my fingers and pulling himself up.

"So are you." I told him, addressing the fact that the top of my head only met his collarbone. He had to be at least 6'5".

"I am not creepy-looking," Steve said defensively.

"Then neither is she." I told him. "Now what should I call her?"

"Nothing."

"Snowflake! No, that sounds like a little girl named her…um…Misty! Nope. Not that one either. Oh, I got it! I'm going to name her Cassandra." I shot a look at Steve. He was glaring at me with enough force to set paper on fire.

"That was below the belt, Althea." he growled.

"Well, now we have to keep her." I smiled, climbing into the saddle. I patted the space behind me with one hand and stroked Cassandra's neck with the other. She shook her mane and pawed the ground, ready to go at my next command.

"There aren't words to describe how much I hate you right now." Steve grumbled, raking his hands through his thick, brown hair.

A few moments later, I felt his chest pressing against my back and his arms locked so tightly around my waist that I could hardly breathe.

"Steve…you aren't going to die," I gasped. "But _I_ might…if you don't ease up a little bit."

He muttered something inaudible and buried his face between my shoulder blades. I rolled my eyes and tapped my heels into Cassandra's sides, urging her forward into a walk.

Steve yelled a stream of stifled cuss-words into my back and hugged me tighter. I was pretty sure that after this whole ordeal, I would be several sizes thinner.

"Stop that! It isn't that bad!" I said, grabbing his wrist and trying to get him to let me out of the death grip.

He shouted something else that didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Alright, you asked for it." I growled, gripping the reins and spurring Cassandra into a full gallop. Steve squeezed my pancreas into my chest cavity and hollered at least fifty differently-worded curses into my shirt.

Steve slid to the ground, lying flat on his back and gasping at the darkening sky.

"Oh Notch, oh Notch, oh Notch…" he muttered.

Cassandra gave an amused nicker, making Steve flinch and scoot away. I was torn between laughing and checking his pulse to see if his heart had failed him.

Instead, I dismounted and unsaddled Cassandra, then went to gather things for a fire.

"Steve, start building a shelter." I called, picking up fallen sticks. "We need a way to keep the mobs out."

It had taken three days to cross the desert, one more to traverse the plain where we found Cassandra, and now our fourth day from the swamp was coming to a close. That meant that I had been traveling with Steve for eleven days now, and after our horse-back riding adventure, we had at least shaved off another three days of travel off of the original fourteen.

Tonight was my last night away from home.

And my last night with Steve.

Something inside of me lurched unpleasantly at the thought of not having any more adventures with him, even though I missed my bed and my room and my house more than anything.

"Steve," I asked when I returned to the small clearing we had stopped in. He was still lying on the ground.

"Yes?" he replied pointedly.

"Well…when I get home…" I began, setting my armful of firewood on the ground. "Will I ever see you again?"

Steve didn't reply to this, instead he chose to sit up and get to his feet.

"I should probably start building a shelter." he said.

Mobs were beginning to spawn by the time he finished. I had already lit a fire and had started to warm up pieces of dried beef for our dinner, which I brought to him on the pieces of parchment paper they had originally been wrapped in.

We ate quietly, listening to the growls and hisses coming from outside. Ever since the night I met Herobrine, the spawn rates had been higher than ever.

"No," Steve suddenly said.

"What?"

"No, you won't see me again."

"O-Oh." I murmured. Once again, my insides jerked violently, and I felt a strange mixture of anger, confusion…and sadness. "Why not?" I asked pathetically.

"Herobrine's power is weaker when more people are around, but I'm not willing to put your entire town at risk. I can't stay for more than an hour or two. After that, I'm not coming back." Steve explained. His fingers were laced together in front of him.

"I see." I said, suddenly feeling miserable. "I just…"

"Just what?" Steve looked up at me, his cornflower-blue eyes as soft as his voice. For a third time, some invisible force tugged at my insides. I scooted closer to him, pressing my shoulder against his.

"I'm…just going to…miss you." I muttered. "I mean…I've done so many exciting things with you…and now I have to go back to my normal life."

Steve gave a heavy sigh.

"I was afraid this was going to happen." he said.

"I know, I'm sorry." I apologized rapidly, holding up my hands. "I'm making this hard."

Steve gazed at me for a long time.

"There is power in a name, Althea. Are you going to live up to yours?" he finally asked, changing the subject.

"Are you being cheesy?" I laughed, even though my vision was welling up with unbidden tears. I sniffed and wiped them away with my knuckles.

"No. Well, yes, but not like that." Steve gave a chuckle. "What I'm trying to say is that my name means honor. Your name means truth, remember?"

"S-so what?" I whimpered. Tears were coming faster than I could scrub them away. "H-how do y-you even know s-something like that?"

"It's an old Valkyrie translation, but that's beside the point." Steve said. I sniffled and gazed at him. "I want you to promise me that you'll never once lie to yourself or others, even if it means that something bad might happen."

A weird sense of calm and control settled over me.

"I promise." I sniffed. "But you have to swear something in return."

"And what's that?" he asked. In that strange clarity that had smoothed away the rough edges of sadness, I had decided to keep to my promise even now. I wasn't going lie. Even if it meant that part of me was going to leave me forever.

"Hold still."

At that, I took his face in my hands and leaned forward….


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

 ***** **Brief Notice:** **I have realized that my time-change indications have been excluded. The problem will be fixed for following chapters.**

"You should get some rest." Steve whispered as he pulled back and rested his head against mine.

"Just a few more minutes," I protested, leaning in for probably my twelfth kiss. He smiled faintly under my lips and held me close, rubbing my back in small circles as he did so.

"Althea, I'm serious." Steve said as soon as I pulled away to breathe. "You're already flimsy, and it isn't going to help if you're _tired_ and flimsy."

"I've been tired for days now," I said, tugging him back for number thirteen. "This…" Fourteen. "Isn't going to…" Fifteen. "Matter." Sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. Eighteen was long and slow and made me so breathless that I started to see spots.

Then, Steve's arms circled closely around me and he pulled me into a tight embrace, resting his head near my neck.

"Althea," he sighed. His breath against my skin sent little tingles up my spine.

"What? Now come back, I wasn't finished yet." I murmured, smiling and pressing my mouth against the spot near his ear. I felt dizzy as if I had swallowed some sort of drug.

"You know 'what'," he said. "We can't be together like this,"

"I'll worry about that tomorrow." I sighed, relaxing in his arms and letting him hold me in his lap. Every part of me was pleasantly warm as I lay there, breathing in the way he smelled and hoping that I would never have to move again.

"Althea," Steve sighed heavily. "I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but I can't see you killed." After that, I decided to pull the cheesy card.

"'Say the word, my prince, and I would die a thousand deaths for you.'" I recited, quoting a famous play about the brave Prince Maleron and the knightess Alledia. "'For my virtue is as true as the sunrise and my love burns as bright.'"

"'Alas, my lady,'" Steve began, finishing the dialogue. He began to gently stroke my hair while he held me. "'I fear that duty to our fair kingdom doth drive us apart like an unbidden chasm; cold and black as death, yet strewn with roses of a thousand starlit nights.' Do you know the next line?"

I nodded, leaning back to place my hands over his heart.

"Of course I do. Ahem. 'Is there not a way, my love?'"

"'If there were, I would throw myself upon my sword to find it. Ah, how I would rip my body pieces if there were but a way to tear down the law, to thrust our kingdom into anarchy if I could but pledge myself to thee. But, my darling, I fear we are doomed to despair.'" Steve smiled at me, taking my chin in his fingers.

"'Not despair, dearest, but to endurance. For though the horn of the enemy bids me to the battle's front, we shall again meet in one another's embrace.'" I said.

"'Until we meet again, my love.'" Steve returned. Then, in accordance to the play, he leaned forward and tenderly pressed his lips against mine.

After that, Alledia would be swept to the battlefield and killed protecting her country from the invading forces. Grief-stricken, Maleron would sink into despondent isolation until he eventually died from the heartbreak, where he was reunited with his lover in death.

I pulled away from Steve after that.

"I didn't know that you liked that play." I sniffed.

"Everyone knows that scene." Steve replied. "It isn't all that remarkable."

"Yeah, but none of the town boys could recite the whole scene word-for-word." I said.

"They've probably just never had someone to recite it with." Steve gave another smile and rested his head against mine. "Althea, I've meant to ask you this, but don't you have anyone to court back in Iceridge? I mean, you're what, seventeen? Eighteen?"

"Twenty-four."

"Twenty-four? Wow…never mind, the point is that I figured you would have a sweetheart by now." Steve said.

"Well, I did…but that was years ago." I told him. "He was a jerk, so I broke up with him and he's been making my life miserable ever since."

"Then why on earth did you court him in the first place?"

"Because he was the mayor's son and my family is dirt poor." I explained. Steve nodded.

"Ah."

"But, he only cared about what I looked like. He never once payed attention to who I was inside."

"And you're a bookworm with an unusual talent for business transactions and making beef jerky taste like edible food." Steve laughed softly, kissing my nose. "Now, go to bed. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

His eyes clouded with sadness as we kissed goodnight, then separated. I lay down on the floor beside where he sat and wrapped myself in blankets.

"Steve?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"'Anything for thee, my lady.'"

Steve's arms around me suddenly had new meaning as we set out the next morning. Even though he was absolutely terrified and constricting me nearly to death, I didn't want him to let go.

Unfortunately, as soon as the walls of Iceridge came into view, that time came.

"Althea, I think it's better for me not to go in." Steve muttered into the back of my neck. I pulled Cassandra to a halt and slid off of her back, leading her by the bridle as we approached the gates.

The walls of Iceridge were several stories high and made of pine logs and chunks of stone driven into the ground, keeping out any and all unbidden mobs once the gates were shut. The walls were what separated human dwellings from NPC villages; where Villagers built golems, we built walls.

"You promised to bring me home. I'm not home yet." I replied to Steve, grabbing his hand and stepping onto the road.

"Who goes there?" hailed the gateman when we were within speaking range.

"Althea Laughlin, and this is Steve…uh…."

"Bates. Steven Bates." Steve replied with a short nod. I glanced at him, then turned back to the soldier at the gates.

"Althea Laughlin! The whole city has been looking for you!" The man signaled to a patrol on the wall, who called a command to his other companions.

A second later, a familiar face had appeared over the wall.

"Thea!" my brother shouted.

The gateman ushered us into the city, where I was met with a crushing embrace from my brother John. The cold steel of his uniform pressed into my face as I hugged him tightly.

"Althea, oh my Notch, what happened to you?" John asked frantically. "When the caravan came back without you we thought you'd been killed!"

"I'm fine," I managed through sudden tears. "I…I promise…I'm okay."

"Oh, Mother's going to a heart-attack. Come on, let's get you home." John put an arm around my shoulders and started to lead me away. I barely had time to grab Steve's hand before he could turn around.

I wasn't going to let him go just yet.

"So how did it happen? Were you attacked by a band of spider jockeys? Or maybe you were ambushed by wolves or zombies or something like that. No, wait, don't tell me. Tell Mother and Father first." John said, striding along the cobblestone streets.

People milled around between and in front of the wood-and-stone buildings, swapping friendly banter, gossip and trade goods, all of them familiar but strangers at the same time.

I had spent most of my time inside babysitting the younger kids, doing chores and reading, since social interaction was no longer an option after I broke up with Jarom. Not that I minded much; I had my books and I had my family.

"ALTHEA!" a voice hollered. I looked in front of me and saw my father racing towards me. He was a portly man with a ruddy face and the warmest smile any man could have and the rest of my family was following behind him. I broke away from John and ran towards him, throwing my arms around his neck.

There were enough tears and hugs and questions to fill up the entire day, but when my father asked who the handsome young man in the corner was, I had to explain myself.

"Oh, Dad, this is Steve. He was the one who brought me home." I smiled, walking to him and taking his arm.

Steve held out his hand for my father to shake, but yelped when the bigger man trapped him in a bear hug instead.

"Thank you!" Father cried. "How can we ever repay you, good sir?"

"I…I won't be needing any—" Steve started.

"Please, I insist!" Father persisted.

"So do I." Steve replied. "And I really should get going."

"Aw, don't you want to stay for dinner?" Steve looked down and saw my little sister Gabrielle clinging to his leg and gazing up at him with big puppy eyes.

"You can stay forever if you like," Anna smiled at him. She was the second youngest. "You're _really_ cute."

"I…I…um…I'm sorry," Steve began, trying to pry Gabrielle off of his leg. Her twin, Gerald, giggled and joined her on his other knee. "I can't stay. I have…things to do."

"Oh, come now, dear. It's the least we can do." Mother placed a hand against his arm and smiled gently.

"It's no use to resist." I whispered, grinning and standing on tiptoes.

"Althea," Steve said through clenched teeth. "You _know_ I can't stay here!"

"Oh, relax. You said that Herobrine's power is weaker when there are more people around. I'll sneak you out after dinner, okay?" I told him. However, he didn't have to answer. My family had plans for him.

The afternoon was pleasantly lazy; warm sun shone down from the sky and a few clouds slid across the firmament like fat, white fish.

Steve and I were sitting beneath one of the apple trees in our back yard, watching the clouds and sharing adventures with my other siblings. We told them about Gran and the desert temple, our encounters with the NPCs and how we met in the first place before Steve began to break off into other stories he'd acquired during his twenty years of exile.

"I ate a bug once," Gerald said, frowning at the ground. "But then I threw up all over the place."

Steve chuckled and ruffled his hair. He seemed to be warming up to my family, but there was still that same sadness in his clear eyes that was present when he was supposed to be happy.

"Well, some day you'll grow up and have your own adventures." Steve told my youngest brother.

"What's the biggest monster you've killed?" May asked curiously. She was nine years old and on her way to being a published author. As we spoke, she had her notepad in her lap.

Steve's face split into a smile.

"Believe it or not, when I was twenty-one, I killed the Ender Dragon." he said.

Donna, Anna, Gabrielle, James and Gerald gasped, while Lewis and Katie rolled their eyes.

"You're just saying that!" Katie sighed, planting her hands on her hips.

"He isn't lying." I said, nudging Steve's shoulder. I remembered him mentioning something like that while we were walking.

"It took years of mining to prepare for it, but I found a stronghold and used the portal to get to the End." Steve told them. "I had a full set of diamond gear, and even then I barely escaped with two hearts."

"Prove it." Lewis challenged.

Steve shrugged and opened his inventory, drawing out a bent, blackened sword and a handful of glassy black scales about the size of my palm.

"That thing is made of diamonds?" James asked. If you looked closely, you could see pale blue showing through the blotchy black stain.

"It looked better before the fight. Ender Dragon scales are harder than diamonds." Steve held up the shimmering black scales for the young ones to look at. May began frantically scribbling in her notepad, chewing her lip the way she did when she was focused.

"I wanna fight the Ender Dragon too!" Gerald cried, grabbing a stick and swiping at his sister.

"Gerald!" Donna shrieked, scooting away. Steve laughed.

"Althea can teach you how." he said.

"What?" I blinked at him.

"No she can't." Lewis huffed. "She's a noodle."

"Hey!" I cried indignantly. "I've killed more zombies than you have!"

"Have not. I went on my first scouting mission just last week. I killed three skeletons, four zombies and a spider." Lewis puffed out his chest. "How many have you killed? One? Two?"

"Twelve zombies, eight skeletons, nine spiders and two creepers." I told him sharply. My brother deflated slightly. "But who's counting?"

"Althea, someone is here to see you!" Diane called from the back porch. When I glanced at her, her expression was cold.

I learned the reason why as soon as I saw who my visitor was.

"Althea, my darling, you've returned home!" cried a voice.

"Jarom," I breathed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.

"Althea, I was so worried about you." Jarom gasped. Suddenly, I heard Steve draw his sword from his inventory and unsheathe it.

"Get away from her." he growled.

"Yeah!" Gerald shouted, smacking his stick against Jarom's leg. He let go of me and backed away, his watery grey eyes wide at seeing the point of Steve's sword aimed at his nose.

"What the heck are _you_ doing back here?" Katie asked.

"When I heard that Althea had been killed," Jarom's eyes welled dramatically. "I realized all of the the mistakes that I had made. I had been cruel to the one I loved, and I know now that she never deserved what I did."

"Did it ever occur to you that _that's why we hate you_?" Lewis huffed.

"And I deserve your scorn!" Jarom placed the back of his hand to his forehead, tilting his head back as if he were swooning.

"This nutcase was your boyfriend?" Steve asked, his eyebrows raised. He sheathed his sword half-way.

"Unfortunately, yes. He was. What do you want, Jarom?" I sighed.

"I want you back, Althea! I am truly, deeply, sincerely sorry for the way I have treated you!" he cried, flamboyantly dropping to his knees.

"Uh oh," one of my siblings muttered. They knew what I would say. I couldn't say no when people begged.

"No." I found myself blurting.

"I knew you would be—" Jarom stopped. "Wait, what?"

"I said no."

Jarom got to his feet.

"But…but you _need me_."

"No I don't. You haven't done anything good for me, and there was a reason I broke up with you. I don't want to see you ever again." I told him. My mind was screaming at me. "Now, get out."

"You banished your boyfriend?" John asked at dinner.

"He's not my boyfriend anymore." I huffed, shoveling mashed potatoes into my mouth. After two weeks of living off of wild animal jerky, I was ravenous.

"Althea, are you sure you didn't hit your head out there in the wild?" Diane asked. She was my elder sister at thirty-two, and still unmarried. Probably because she wore so much makeup that her face looked plastic.

"No, but she nearly drowned about twelve times." Steve offered. I elbowed him sharply.

"I'm just worried about what he's going to do in retaliation." Father sighed. Last time I broke up with him, Father was "mysteriously" fired from his job and couldn't secure a new one for three weeks.

"Well, I think she did the right thing." John said. "The kid needs to learn his lesson."

"I agree."

Shortly after dinner, I managed to sneak Steve to the front porch. The light was dying and the lamps were just starting to be lit.

"Steve," I said, taking his hands in mine. "Please be safe."

"Of course." Steve replied, squeezing my fingers. "Take care of your family. You never know when something bad could happen."

I smiled and stepped closer to him.

"I still haven't told them about the loot we got from the desert temple." I laughed. "Or the diamond tools. Or about last night."

"They'll find out eventually." Steve sighed. "Your family always does." I felt his hands against my lower back as he gently drew me closer. I laid my hands against his collar bone and let him pull me in. He paused just a few inches away from my mouth. "Goodbye, Althea."

"See you later, Steve." I whispered.

I didn't want that last kiss to end, but all too soon his lips were leaving mine and he was pulling out of the embrace. He began to walk away.

"Steve," I called. He turned back, gazing at me with a strange look in his eyes. "If you ever need to come back…you can." He gave a pained smile.

"I love you too much to do that." he said softly. Emotion rose in a thick lump in my throat.

I found myself running forward and throwing my arms around him despite myself.

"I love you too." I sobbed, clutching at his T-shirt. In that moment, I would have given up everything I held dear if I could free him of the hardships that followed him wherever he went. I desperately wanted him to stay with me.

"I know. I know." he murmured. His voice shook even as he reached up and stroked my hair.

It was then that I released him.

And watched him walk away.

There was a small paper package sitting on my bed when I went to the room I shared with my three eldest sisters. Katie and May were already lying tucked into the blankets, while I had heard Diane helping Mother put the boys to bed.

"Your boyfriend left that for you." Katie said, rolling onto her stomach.

"H-He's…not my boyfriend." I said miserably. I wished with every fiber of my being that he was.

"Then why were you two making out?" May scowled. I blushed.

"We weren't _making out_." I protested. "We were just saying goodbye." I went to the bookshelf tucked into the corner and started skimming across the spines. Most of my books were still there from two weeks ago. I found the one I was looking for and walked to my bed, clutching it to my chest.

I set the book on my pillow and reached for the package, which I delicately opened. Inside was a note…and a blue T-shirt.

"Ooh! Read it out loud!" May said giddily, sitting up.

"No," I frowned at her.

"If you don't we'll just dig through your stuff and read it while you aren't home." Katie smirked. I glowered at her, then started to read.

" _My dear Althea,_ "

"OOOOooooooOOOOH!"

"Shut up!" I snapped. "Anyway… _My dear Althea, I left this for you because I didn't have anything else in my inventory that I could spare besides a few old carrots and an extra bootlace. I have never met a woman quite like you, and I want you to know…_ " I choked up. " _That…that you will always be MY directionally-challenged book-nerd. Even though we can't see each other again in this life, the Valkyries say that we meet our loved ones in the afterlife. If I have to wait that long to see you, I will._ _Yours truly, Steve._ "

I broke down after that, sobbing loudly into my pillow and clutching Steve's gift to my heart. Katie and May stayed close, trying to comfort me.

"Thea…there's a little more." Kate said softly. I didn't respond to her in any way besides a choked wail. "It's a line from _Alledia and Maleron_ …in that last scene."

I knew exactly which line he had chosen, and hearing it was like someone had shoved a blunt knife into my heart. It was the simple ending of a soliloquy spoken by the dead Prince Maleron upon seeing Alledia in the afterlife.

" _At last, there stands my love, as an Angel, and I her wings._ "

Weeks went past, and my bleeding heart had only just started to scab. Jarom had once more tried to declare his "love" before he threatened to bankrupt my family. I denied him, and once more, my father suddenly lost his job as the man behind the counter at the bank.

At first, my family had no idea why we still had food on the table, but then I revealed the money that came from selling my temple loot. We discovered that we were pretty well off for the time being.

One day, I stood with my mother in the living room. My siblings had left a few minutes ago.

"Did that young man really mean so much to you? You've been moping for weeks." Mother asked as she cleaned up after breakfast.

I paused, clenching the handle of the broom in my hands.

"I haven't been moping." I said tightly. "And yes. Yes he did."

"Darling, please don't get angry, but he doesn't even write to you. Why do you think that he—"

"He left to protect me, mother." I said softly. There wasn't a reason for me to be mad. She didn't know Steve like I did. "There isn't anything other than that."

"Dear," Mother sighed. "Are you sure you aren't being…ridiculous?"

"No mother," I persisted. "He left because he loves me. There's nothing you can say that will make me not love him back."

Mother gave an exasperated sigh.

"If you say so. I just want you to be happy." she said.

However, I didn't know at the time that someone was listening to that conversation from the shadows.

It was dark as pitch, and as cold as the floor of a cave.

Steve warily pressed through the unnatural darkness, his footsteps silent and his weapon drawn. He could feel that something was wrong.

"Hello, brother." a soft voice called. Steve saw a pair of white eyes split the blackness. "I guess I finally caught up to you."

Steve grit his teeth. He'd stayed in Iceridge for too long.

" _An matum loth haren, sbrecka eichalamach!_ " he muttered, reciting a self-protection spell from the Book of the Valkyries. The area around him began to lighten.

"That little trick isn't going to work anymore." Herobrine smiled. He held up a black, leather-bound object with a silver emblem on the front, then raised a second one, brandishing a skull.

The Book of the Withers.

"Where did you find that?" Steve whispered.

"Buried in the ice at the North Pole." Herobrine explained. He put the Book of the Shade away and began thumbing through its sister book. "And just so you know, the Book of the Dragon Riders is located on Falchemer's Island. I want you to know that you were _really close_ before you die. _Shemen ele ti!_ "

Steve cried out in pain as a bolt of pure shadow slammed through his protective shield and collided with his chest, knocking him to the ground. He got to his knees, reaching for his sword.

" _Namaan lostech harun elificha!_ " he gasped, applying a temporary set of enchantments. He hadn't shown any of this to Althea, but it was that spell he'd used to make his bow enchanted.

" _Noem alantra fi._ " Herobrine replied, and the purple glow faded, replaced by a black, corrosive film that burned Steve's skin where they touched. He cried out and dropped the blade.

"Just kill me quickly. Spare yourself the trouble." Steve said bitterly. Herobrine laughed.

"No, I'm not going to kill you just yet." he said, bending and roughly taking Steve's chin in his fingers. "Because death means so much more when only one of the lovers die."

Steve went rigid.

"No…"

"That's right; I know everything about you two, and—good news for you—you get to see her again before I use her body to resurrect the Ender Dragon. After that, it's bye-bye to your baby doll and bye-bye to the human world." Herobrine smiled.

Steve wished that the earth would split underneath him and the mountains would collapse to cover him, _anything_ to drown out what he felt in that moment. He wanted the apocalypse to come right then so that it wouldn't be his fault.

"Please…" he whispered. He couldn't threaten or bribe or even try to beg his way out of it. "Just kill me now. If you want to hurt her then _please kill me now_."

Herobrine chuckled mirthlessly.

"But you see, Steven," he said slowly. "Then I don't get to have the pleasure of breaking your spirit; I have to kill you inside before I start to kill you outside. First comes the soul, then comes the mind, and what fun that's going to be. But no, I'm not going to kill you right now, because only after you have nothing to live for and nothing to die for, when your mind is in ruins and your strength only a shadow of what it once was..." Herobrine took a breath, his lips pulled back in a grin. "I'm not going to kill you, brother. I'm going to _destroy you_."

Then he stood and murmured an incantation, and four tall, black skeletons appeared out of the night. They bent and grabbed Steve in their bony fingers and bound his hands behind him, then disappeared back into the shadows with their captive.

Herobrine sighed and flicked his wrist. A black sphere appeared in his hand.

"Did you get the girl?" Herobrine asked.

"Yes, my lord."

"Excellent."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

 ***** **Brief Notice:** **There are still no time-change indicators, and I can't find out why.**

In the dream, I was sitting with Steve beneath the apple tree. His arm was around me, and my head rested against his shoulder. Neither of us spoke or even moved, but it was more real than any dream I had ever had.

In fact, it was so real that I actually believed it for a moment.

Until I woke up.

"Morning, sunshine." a voice shattered the quiet. I shrieked and punched its owner in the face.

"Jarom! Get out of my—" I broke off, sitting up and looking around. "Room? Where am I?"

Jarom ignored me and busied himself with stemming off his bloody nose. I was lying on the ground in a dark, stone room. The only light came from redstone torches burning in sconces on the walls.

"Jarom, where did you take me?" I growled, getting to my feet. I was still wearing my pajamas, Steve's shirt pulled over them.

"I'm just following orders, okay?" Jarom replied, shooting a glare at me. It was then that I noticed what he was wearing.

He was dressed in tailored black leather, fashioned into a sort of uniform. A silver skull was embroidered over the breast pocket. He got up, smoothed back his blonde hair, then grabbed my arm and began leading me down a stone hallway.

"Jarom, where am I?" I demanded, tearing my arm out of his grip. He wasn't being theatrical or flamboyant now, and it was beginning to terrify me.

"In the castle of Lord Herobrine." he said. I stopped dead in my tracks.

"How do _you_ know about Herobrine?" I hissed.

"Because I'm his second-in-command." Jarom held out his arms, smirking triumphantly. "How else do you think I got the power to control people? I do it the same way I got you here. With dreams."

I had always thought that it was because of his status and popularity as the mayor's son.

"Then what do you want?" I asked softly.

"To finish my job and go home before everyone wakes up. Then I can start another daring search for the elusive Althea Laughlin." Jarom said, grabbing my wrist and yanking me down the hallway.

"You are a slimy, spineless creeper-spawn." I cursed.

"Thanks, baby, I do my best." Jarom replied snidely. Suddenly, he held his fingers to his ear, as if he were listening to something. "Yes, my lord."

"Excellent." a disturbingly familiar voice said. Jarom stopped and fell to one knee, his head bowed as a white-eyed figure appeared from the shadows.

"Herobrine." I whispered.

"Aw, she remembered me!" he gushed.

"Where is Steve?" I asked.

"Who's to say that he's even here in the first place? Geez, you couples are so needy." Herobrine sighed.

"Answer the question." I growled.

"He's wherever I put him last." he said. "Which could be somewhere dark and horrible, or a comfy bedroom near the gate."

"Take me to him." I said.

"Are you sure about that?" Herobrine raised his eyebrows at me. "You might want to stop and think for a moment."

"You're probably going to kill me anyway. Take me to Steve." I told him defiantly.

"Alright, but you aren't going to like it." Herobrine shrugged. "Jarom, you've done well. Now get out of my sight."

It was then that Herobrine grabbed my wrist in his weirdly soft fingers and teleported away.

We were in a second hallway, this time completely unlit and very, very cold. "Last chance at dying in comfort and dignity." Herobrine said, pausing in front of a thick, steel door.

"Go suck a lemon." I said sharply.

"Ladies first." Herobrine frowned. He pulled the latch of the door, and it creaked open to reveal a dark room. I stepped inside, and Herobrine shut the door.

"Steve!" I cried, running forward. In the dark, he looked up at me as I fell to my knees in his arms.

"Althea, what have you done?" he whispered.

"I-I don't know…I just…woke up here." I explained. "Jarom is one of Herobrine's minions."

"Althea, why didn't you try to escape?" Steve asked me desperately. There was a wild tone in his voice.

"I couldn't. There weren't any—"

"You should have tried!" he shouted. I flinched as if he'd actually hit me and pulled away from him.

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling small. I couldn't see him very well. But I heard the rattle of chains as he drew his knees to his chest.

"What have you done? What have you done…." he whispered to himself. He started to shake.

"Steve…" I murmured. I watched him for a moment, listening to his breath hitch as he cried. "Steve, tell me what's going to happen." I put my arms around his shoulders.

Steve looked up at me, and though I couldn't see his expression, I knew it was filled with pain.

"Herobrine isn't going to just kill you…" he gasped. "He's going to use your body to bring back the Ender Dragon, and then he's going to come after me."

I sucked in a breath.

"Oh, no."

Suddenly, the reality of what was happening came crashing down on me. I had been so caught up in trying to see Steve that I hadn't paid any attention to what exactly I had gotten myself into. My ex-boyfriend had just _kidnapped me_ and now I was going to die _bringing back a legendary monster_.

"It's going to be okay," I suddenly said. The same sense of clarity that I had felt before I kissed Steve had returned, as if no matter what I did, nothing could go wrong.

"Althea, you don't understand. Herobrine has the Book of the Withers now. If he resurrects the Ender Dragon and summons the leader of the Withers, then he could rip apart the realms that separate the End and the Nether from our world. After I left you, I was going to try and find the Book of the Dragon Riders so that I could stop him, but he…."

I pressed my finger against his lips.

"It'll be fine." I said softly. "Even if we die and the world ends, someone will come along to stop him."

I shifted so that I sat in front of him and circled my arms around his neck. I pretended to ignore the shackles on his wrists and ankles as I pulled him into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." he whispered, burying his face in my neck. I could feel his heart pounding against my chest as I held him, grateful to be here with him, but at the same time terrified of the future.

"It's okay. It isn't your fault." I told him, running my fingers through his dark hair. Part of me wanted to say otherwise. Maybe if I hadn't fallen in love with him, I wouldn't have gotten into this mess.

Steve carefully put his arms around me, maneuvering around the chains clapped around his wrists. We held each other in silence, listening to the quiet _drip, drip, drip_ of water and the sound of one another's breath. It was bitterly cold, but Steve's embrace was like a blanket against the freezing temperature.

Soon, I felt myself drifting off in his arms.

I wasn't sure how long it was until the guards came for us, but I knew it was long enough for me to be very hungry and _very_ thirsty.

A frighteningly tall black skeleton grabbed me and pulled me away from Steve, while its partner unlocked his shackles and jerked him to his feet. They led us out of the dungeon into a less-dim corridor and down several sets of hallways until we came to a circular room.

An altar stood at one side, while the middle was dominated by a shallow pool filled with syrupy black liquid. Stars and comets of blue glittered beneath its surface as if were lit from behind. I noticed two lengths of chain bolted to the floor across from the altar.

The two guards took Steve and snapped one end of each chain around his wrists, binding him in place. They left me unattended.

"That took a bit longer than I thought it would." a voice called, and Herobrine stepped out of my shadow, carrying what looked like a large, purple-and black rock. "This was a little harder to collect than I had first anticipated."

I watched him carry it to the altar and set it down next to a wicked-looking ceremonial knife and a chalice.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Steve cried.

"I'm destroying the human world and bringing back my people." Herobrine said calmly. He held out a hand to me, and once more, all of my muscles locked up. I squeaked as they began to move out of their own accord, bringing me into the pool of black slime, where I stopped at the middle. The goo reached just above my ankles.

"Hold on…I'm forgetting something. Ah, yes! You, fetch my second-in-command." Herobrine pointed at one of the Wither skeletons, then busied himself thumbing through the pages of two black books.

"Please, don't do this! It isn't going to solve anything!" Steve begged.

"I don't care." Herobrine said, deathly serious. "I don't care about _solving_ _anything_ , I just want to see you and the rest of your kind suffer."

I let out a quiet cry of protest, but other than that, my body wouldn't respond to me.

A moment later, Jarom returned with the Wither skeleton.

"Good. You're here." Herobrine smiled at my ex-boyfriend.

"Of course, my lord." Jarom replied. "But I haven't got much time before I have to—"

"This will only take a moment." Herobrine said. "Come here."

I was facing the door, so all I heard was a cry from Jarom, the sound of steel cutting flesh and a strangled sound before his body hit the floor. A few moments later, the slime around my ankles rippled as Herobrine dumped Jarom's carcass into the pool.

"Let's see, we've got the human sacrifice, the Dragon egg, the ghast tears, the witness, the Books, and the host. I think we're ready to get started."

" _No_!" Steve yelled. He tried to run forward, but the chains at his arms held him back.

Herobrine ignored him and stood directly in front of me, a book in each hand.

"Don't worry. This won't hurt. Probably." he smiled, shooting a glance at Steve. My heart was beginning to pound in terror. Herobrine looked back down at his books, and then began to chant.

" _Leth melenai, moran halamar Khszaratachk, lebertok na lormen gilethan bai haadzal_ …."

I lost track of what he was saying when the gunk around me began to shift and roil of its own accord.

"Althea! Althea, NO!" Steve was shouting.

A bright purple glow came from behind me where the Dragon egg rested, and I heard a sharp splitting sound.

Little veins of glowing violet mixed with the dark brown of blood dribbled across the surface of the black ooze like fingers seeking out a precious substance.

Then, still chanting, Herobrine took the chalice of ghast tears and held them over the pool.

" _Mehziik, Lanahath dorian…brezil._ " He tipped the container's contents into the pool.

I cried out as the blue-speckled slime surged upwards, covering my legs, my chest, my head in a single instant.

" _ALTHEA!_ "

Then everything went black.

Tears blurred Steve's vision for days after that. Herobrine left him in the chamber with the unbroken, incubating chrysalis that had hardened around Althea's body like a shimmering, crystalline shell.

He knew that it was over; inside of that glassy cocoon, Althea was changing, metamorphosing into something else while Jarom's body decayed nearby.

He knew that she was gone.

And it was all his fault.

Suddenly, Steve heard a faint rattling noise. He raised his head wearily, and saw a few white cracks appearing in the surface of the shell.

Instantly, Herobrine warped into the room.

"Look, brother! She's done cooking!" he said, sounding falsely cheerful. Steve only glared at Herobrine in bitter silence. There was nothing left inside of him besides that cold, muted hatred.

The cracks grew wider and wider until a pair of wings burst through the chrysalis, flinging shards of glasslike matter and globs of embryonic mucus in all directions.

Steve felt his already frigid insides go cold.

The rest of the shell began to crumble, and the resurrected Ender Dragon slid to the floor in a heap.

She looked just like Althea, while at the same time, grotesquely different. She was covered in patches of dark, pebbly scales and silver plates, while her hands and feet had morphed into clawed talons. A tail had sprouted from the end of Althea's spine, accompanied by a long row of black spikes and huge, leathery wings. Large, sharp teeth protruded from Althea's lips, and her soft, blonde hair had been bleached white. Steve couldn't see her eyes.

The Ender Dragon let out a shuddering growl, her entire body shaking violently. Then, she looked around, sniffing the air. Her eyes were covered by a translucent film.

Her sightless eyes turned to Steve, and she let out a growl, her long black tongue sliding in and out of her mouth.

"No, don't eat that one. We aren't done with him yet." Herobrine said. He went to the carcass of Althea's ex-boyfriend and dumped it in front of her.

Steve tasted bile in his mouth as the Ender Dragon devoured the entire corpse, bones, organs and all.

"Where…where is the human...that…destroyed me?" the Ender Dragon rasped. Althea's voice mixed with the deep, velvety tone of the Dragon.

"In due time, my dear. For now, you need to recover your strength." Herobrine took her and led her out of the chamber, down several hallways and to a bedroom with an Ender Crystal floating above a short plinth.

He laid the Ender Dragon in bed, where she shut her filmy eyes and began to absorb the power of the Crystal nearby.

Herobrine smiled, watching her for a moment. His plan was coming together beautifully, and there was no one that could stop him once the Realms were dissolved. His people would be free to roam the earth as they used to. All he had to do was summon the leader of the Withers to this world, and their combined power would be enough to obliterate the boundaries that separated the Nether, the End and the Overworld. After hundreds of years…the only Shade to ever force his way through the boundary to the human world was going to complete his ancestor's will.

But that wouldn't be the end of it. His plan to lead the boy to the Book and use his body as a vessel had been a stroke of genius, never before conceived by his kind. For that, his people would hail him as a king, where he had been an exile before. A Shade who had been a criminal, was going to be remembered as the greatest leader their kind had ever seen.

After those thoughts had passed, Herobrine left the new Ender Dragon to rest and went back to the original chamber. The handful of skeletons he'd managed to bring back from the Nether were already preparing to open a different portal. They had taken Steve back to his cell to rot before the real fun began.

Steve was the original threat to the plan, the fly in the ointment. He was too close to Michael, too likely to jar old memories scattered through the boy's broken consciousness.

If Michael somehow regained control of his body…it would be over for Herobrine and his plans.

He shook his head and went down to the dungeon. Better to get this done quickly than risk anything happening.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Steve knew something was different, even before the door opened. He could tell by the way the footsteps scraped across the floor, accompanied by a rustling sound.

The door squeaked open, and the Ender Dragon stood in the darkness. Her eyes were open—glowing a weird purplish-white—and she was no longer covered in fetal goop. She was clothed in a pleated black dress without sleeves and without a back to block her wings.

"Ooh, you aren't looking so good." she said, sauntering towards him. She examined the bruises and gashes and burns covering Steve's body, staining his clothes with blood and marring his smooth skin.

He wouldn't look at her until she held her claws under his chin and lifted his head to face her, and even then the crystal-blue of his eyes was filled with agony. Her face was still there, under the black scales splotching her soft, pale cheeks.

"Herobrine said that this body's name was Althea." the Ender Dragon said softly, inspecting him with her glowing eyes. "A Valkyrie name meaning 'truth.' Is that correct?"

Steve only stared at her, his face devoid of any expression.

Her long, black tongue flickered in and out of her mouth and her eyes narrowed. She reached up and placed a talon near Steve's right shoulder and pressed. Blood began to well from the prick and seep into his shirt.

His face twitched in a grimace, but his silence held. He wasn't going to answer the questions of the beast that had taken Althea from him.

"I asked you a question." the Ender Dragon's tone was no longer soft and gentle. She wrapped her hand around Steve's arm and dug into his flesh with her clawed fingers, right where his arm attached to his torso.

This time, he let out a soft cry and arched his back in discomfort, but still didn't speak.

"Come now, human! It isn't that hard!" she hissed. She felt little electric tingles up her spine as his warm, thick blood ran across her scales. She wondered what fresh meat tasted like, and she was hungry.

"You know what?" she asked rhetorically. "Herobrine only wants you alive, not necessarily all in one piece."

She bared her teeth and bit down on his arm, pulling and tearing savagely. Steve began to yell in pain, trying to pull her claws away from his flesh. The hot, metallic liquid that coursed through the human's veins was like drinking wine after bitter water; sweet and rich and addicting. She twisted her head and pushed away from him with her arms, earning a horrible cracking sound and a scream from Steve.

In a few moments, she pulled away.

With his entire arm in her mouth.

Steve quickly went into shock, trying to process what exactly had happened and why there was blood absolutely _everywhere_. Perspiration beaded on his skin and his breath came in agonized, shuddering gasps.

The Ender Dragon laughed quietly and began to eat. She remembered the taste of human from long ago, but they had been much smaller then and compared to the cold, decayed corpse Herobrine had left her upon her rebirth, one limb alone was like a feast for a starving man.

Steve couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. His thoughts kept jumbling with old memories of Althea, and somehow she had just bitten of his arm. No, that wasn't right…the Althea he remembered wasn't a cannibal. But this wasn't Althea, that's right, this was only Althea's body. But then where was she? She had to be _somewhere_ right? Somewhere far away from him, out of reach, safe from the blood and the pain—oh Notch, the pain.

But it was nothing compared to what he felt inside.

He couldn't remember why or how, but there was a piercing, hollow ache inside of him that was on the verge of swallowing him. No physical pain could compare to that.

Something was missing, deep inside of him where his heart should have been.

 _Someone_ was missing.

(O)

"Where did you get that?" Herobrine asked as the Ender Dragon sauntered into the portal chamber, nibbling on several white bones. A few still had meat attached to them.

"Oh, I picked it up." she replied with a wry smile.

"You didn't kill him did you?" Herobrine cried.

"No! Of course not!" the Ender Dragon replied, picking her teeth. Then she tilted her head. "Why? Am I allowed to?"

"No." Herobrine scowled. "That's _my_ job. Feel free to terrorize a village instead, but _don't eat Steve_."

The Ender Dragon stuck out her lip in an exaggerated pout, then sat down and started to finish her meal.

"When are we summoning the Withers?" she asked, chewing thoughtfully on a set of metacarpals.

"As soon as your strength has returned and I have collected what we need to open the Catalyst Portal." Herobrine replied gruffly, surveying the two obsidian pillars standing where the End Catalyst had been. His servants were ahead of schedule.

"And how long will that be?"

"A few days if you can learn how to properly care for your new body. As far as I know, human flesh isn't very good for them." Herobrine said.

"Then why on earth did you leave a half-rotten carcass for me in the beginning?" the Ender Dragon huffed.

"Because that's what the Book told me to do." Herobrine replied. "But that's beside the point. I've been living in this body for twenty years now, and you have to feed it stuff like fruits and vegetables and _cooked_ meat."

The Ender Dragon wrinkled her nose and snorted, lashing her tail behind her.

"You mean like…Chorus fruit?" she asked.

"No. Those are poisonous to humans." Herobrine explained. "You have to eat Overworld food, such as apples and potatoes."

"Yeah, right. You Shade think you know everything." the Ender Dragon sighed. "I'll eat what I want to."

(O)

"I take it back." The Ender Dragon groaned after having vomited into a bowl several times.

"I told you so." Herobrine sighed heavily, nodding to an Enderman. The tall black creature stepped forward and laid a platter of food on the table, then retreated to a corner of the dining hall.

"Ugh…but he tasted so _good_." the Ender Dragon murmured, looking at a slice of bread with disdain.

"Be that as it may," Herobrine took his feet off of the polished black table and stood up. "I better go and 'check on him.'"

He left the dining hall and walked along the dark, stone hallways, choosing to admire his handy work. The castle was constructed at bedrock, centered over an enormous lake of lava and so heavily guarded that even the armies of Ravenroost wouldn't be able to defeat all of the mobs.

It was virtually impenetrable.

About twenty minutes had passed before Herobrine wandered to Steve's cell and stepped inside.

Steve was sitting against the wall where the Ender Dragon had left him last, soaked in his own blood and shivering violently from the cold.

"Morning, brother." Herobrine smiled. He was met with an icy, bitter glare. "Sorry about the Dragon, physical violence wasn't intended."

"Yet." Steve rasped. His throat was parched and raw. Herobrine chuckled.

"That's true. However, I intend on keeping to our _schedule_." he said, stepping closer. Fear fluttered through Steve's eyes like a moth in the dark, one that would soon be as omnipresent as the moon.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

John Laughlin gave a heavy sigh, setting his sword against the wall of his tent and rolling his aching shoulder. Dawn was creeping through the holes in the canvas, filling the small space with milky blue light. He could hear the sounds of distant zombies beginning to disintegrate.

Althea had disappeared again, and this time, so had Jarom Hartworth. The mayor had drafted every able-bodied man to scour the wilds surrounding Iceridge, searching for them. Well, searching for Jarom. Althea was a nobody to everyone except her family members, the grocer and the librarian. You would ask for her and people would say "Who is that?" or, at best, "Hey, wasn't that Jarom's girlfriend?"

No one paid any attention to the beautiful, intelligent, lonely young woman that could be seen picking up groceries on Monday mornings or carrying armfuls of books on Wednesdays.

But that man that had escorted her home had been the same way. You could see it in the mournful way he looked at other people, as if they were only half-there. John had seen it when Steve was spending the evening with his family, just before he left; a sad, wistful gaze that all lonely people had.

Maybe Althea had seen it too, and maybe something had happened between them. Maybe she left again to be with Steve...and then got lost again, thinking that she knew the way.

John shook his head and lay down on his cot to sleep. If only he knew where she was and how to find her….

(O)

John was awakened by a soft rumble.

He sat up, his thin blanket pooling in his lap. Everything was shaking.

"Laughlin! Get up!" someone shouted. The flap of his tent was pulled back, and John recognized Captain Harrell. "Something is going on."

"A-aye sir." John saluted, then got out of bed to put his armor on. He ran outside as the tremors began to grow larger.

The sky had turned a bloody crimson and a gale-force wind was howling through the tops of the trees.

"What's happening?" John asked Captain Harrell.

"I don't know, Laughlin, but get ready for a fight." Harrell replied, saddling his horse and drawing his sword.

John looked around him and saw that the whole camp was surrounded by shadowy figures with glowing purple eyes. He wondered how he'd missed them before. The other men of the Iceridge militia were standing at arms, their helmets pulled low over their faces to avoid the paralytic stare of the Endermen.

But, none of them were attacking.

They just stood there.

Watching.

Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting _CRACK_ and the earth ripped open the center of the clearing.

An enormous black column of obsidian thrust out of the fissure, orange lava bubbling from its base and spilling out like fiery fingers. The grass turned brown around the area, decaying and crumbling to reveal pebbly red stone underneath.

The earthquakes grew to the point that John couldn't stand upright without leaning against a dying tree.

From where he stood, he could see the militia men trying to keep their feet and avoid the magma spilling from the bowels of the earth. In the distance, more cracks began to open up, allowing the growth of more columns and encouraging the spreading of Netherrack.

"Oh, Notch," John whispered. The air filled with the smell of sulfur, the croaks of Endermen, and the sound of their world beginning to collapse.

(O)

"No," Steve murmured in despair.

"Isn't it beautiful, brother?" Herobrine crooned, tightening his grip on the back of Steve's neck.

He'd brought his castle to the Overworld, where it rested against the side of a mountain. From where he stood, he could see for miles.

End Stone and Netherrack were beginning to spread like fungus around growing lakes of lava and spires of glassy black rock that were beginning to appear. The lakes were filling with contaminants, creatures that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years were beginning to appear, and the prisons that held the Withers and the Shade were dissolving.

"You have done well." a soft voice said. Herobrine looked to his side and looked at the tall, three-headed creature beside him, summoned only moments ago. It had the torso of a man, but the lower half of an armored arachnid, as well as six arms, a barbed tail and a pelt of sort, black hair. Its six eyes glowed white.

"It was nothing." Herobrine grinned. The Ender Dragon rolled her eyes, her tail swishing behind her. "When do you think the Shade will be joining us?"

"As soon as the sun sets." the Archwither said. "When their power is greatest. Tell me, Herobrine, how is it that you managed to escape? I have met Shade that are far superior to you."

Herobrine shot an irritated glance at the Archwither.

"I know what you will think, but don't forget for a moment that _I_ was the one who freed you." he said. The Archwither turned its three sets of eyes to him and grunted slightly.

"Well?"

"I was born into the lowest caste of our people, damned to live on the streets like a silverfish. I was nothing, a piece of filth under the boots of our leaders. However, when nothing goes missing, no one notices. Thusly, when I found the tiniest gap in our prison, there was no one to follow me. As you well know, the slightest disturbance will reseal the enchantment keeping us in, but my aura was so weak and diminished that I slipped through to the Overworld without upsetting the spell. That's when I found these two—" he gestured to himself and to Steve. "—took over the younger boy's body, and _then_ used the other one's girlfriend to resurrect the Ender Dragon." Herobrine said. It felt good to share his idea with someone other than himself.

"So, you're telling me that you escaped by being the most pathetic creation Notch has ever conceived?" the Archwither cocked three eyebrows. Herobrine glared at him.

"This 'pathetic creation' just saved you from an eternity of being stuck in the Nether. I would hold off on insulting me for awhile." he growled.

The Ender Dragon rolled her eyes and looked down at Steve. He wasn't bound or restrained in any way, and escape would have been easy for him.

But yet, he just knelt at Herobrine's feet, quiet and miserable and broken. He'd accepted that he was going to die, was practically begging for it. As he watched everything he tried to defend crumble into ruin, he wanted Herobrine to kill him right then.

"What about the Valkyries and the Dragon Riders?" the Ender Dragon asked. "They were sent to the End, and now that the Boundaries are gone, they should be able to return."

"Have you not felt the balance shift?" the Archwither asked, turning to her. "When we fought before, neither could overcome the other because our forces were balanced. Now, we have the upper hand."

"Ah, don't be hasty." Herobrine said, holding up a finger. "This one has the Book of the Valkyries. We have to kill him first."

There was a soft hiss, a blur of movement and a gasp of pain from Steve.

"There." the Archwither grunted, his scorpion tail returning to its place behind him. "He'll be dead in three days."

Underneath Steve's ripped jeans, in a small gash below his knee, the Archwither's poison began to take effect.

(O)

Steve was taken back to his cell and left there to suffer, and that was precisely what he did.

A fever formed in the first hour, leaving him nauseous, tired and soaked in perspiration that sapped the heat from his ailing body. After that, his leg began to hurt, as if someone had dripped acid over his skin.

All he could do lay there and moan in the dark, in more pain than he'd ever experienced.

"I can't believe we're doing this."

Steve thought he heard voices on the second day.

"Well, we need him if we're going to stop the dark forces." said a second voice. This one sounded older, more determined.

"He's right, Lucien." a third voice spoke out.

"Notch, he looks awful. Just hurry up and get him out of here. If Herobrine or the Shade find out that we're here, he'll cut off our wings and feed us to the zombies." the voice called Lucien said nervously.

Steve cried out as he felt a hand clasp his leg.

"He's been poisoned. It's Wither venom." said the older voice. "Do either of you have a silver apple?"

"No." said the third. "They don't come on in Cambria until next cycle."

"Well, hold him down. We're going to have to amputate."

Steve felt a small twinge of panic as two sets of hands pinned down his chest and remaining arm, while another took his uninjured leg.

"Lucien, see if you can stay the fever while I see how far this goes." said the elder. Steve heard the sound of a knife splitting through the fabric of his jeans.

"Alright." Lucien replied. "Arod, take over for me."

"Fine." said Arod. The hands shifted, and Steve felt his head being gently raised.

" _Analef_." Lucien said. The Valkyrie word for "water."

A moment later, a damp cloth was pressing against Steve's face. Lucien spoke a few more words in Valkyrie, and the fever began to diminish into a pleasant numbness.

"One," the elder spoke. "Two," he raised his blade. "Three!"

Steve was jolted out of the warm fuzz surrounding his brain as if someone had jabbed him with a cattle prod. His vision cleared for just a moment, and three white-clad figures came into view before vanishing back into blurriness.

"Hurry! We have to leave!" Lucien cried, standing and letting Steve's head fall back to the floor.

"Just a moment." said the elder, tearing off a strip of his tunic and binding what was left of Steve's leg. Arod gathered the human in his arms and stood up, which would have been comical had Steve not been direly wounded.

"Gabriel, she's right. We have to leave _right now_." the boy said. "Hasufel is waiting for us."

"Alright. Make haste."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Steve awoke in a pale, white room.

"I was worried you wouldn't make it." a familiar voice sighed in relief. Steve looked around and saw the blurry outline of a man. His skin was a worn and leathery brown, and he had thick, white hair.

"Please…tell me that I died." Steve whispered. His voice was parched, and his lips split when he spoke. "Please tell me…that you're Notch and I'm dead."

"Unfortunately not, my boy." the man said gently, reaching out and dabbing at Steve's forehead with a damp rag.

Steve shut his eyes and felt bitter tears roll down his cheeks.

"You should have let me die." he muttered.

"Be my guest. In fact, if you want me to, I'll kill you myself." the old man said. "But only after Herobrine is defeated, the Nether is sealed, and Althea is returned to her own mind."

 _Althea_.

"H-how did you know…about her?" Steve choked.

"You told me. You've spent two weeks wandering in a fever, and during that time you've explained everything." the old man said with a wry smile.

Steve had the will left to feel violated.

"It doesn't matter." he murmured. "She's…gone. And it's all my f-fault.

"Her body may be altered, but Althea's mind can still be salvaged. Just like your brother." the old man said slowly.

Steve sat up ramrod straight, nearly falling back as a wave of dizziness swept over him. He reached out with his right hand and grabbed the front of the old man's robes.

"How?" he growled. Then he blinked and looked at his hand. His _right_ hand. The one that had been bitten off by the Ender Dragon.

"Ah, you've noticed Arod's handiwork." the man smiled. "The boy is only two hundred, but the most brilliant metal smith in Cambria and Khazrael alike."

Steve pulled back and looked at his hand, re-crafted from a pearly white metal and carved with stately motifs that trailed up the mechanical arm behind it. He couldn't feel it, but it responded to him perfectly.

"We replaced your leg as well." the old man smiled pleasantly.

"Wait, wait, wait. Cambria and Khazrael? Those are—"

"The capitals of the Valkyrie and Dragon Rider realms." the man's smile widened. "Yes, you're in the palace of Khazrael as we speak, and you are the one that is going to save us all. My name is Gabriel, the healer here."

Steve stared at Gabriel with wide eyes, and for a moment, he almost seemed back to his old self. But then his clear blue eyes clouded over and his shoulders slumped down.

"I'm sorry, but I can't save anyone. I couldn't even save myself, much less the people I care about." Steve said. He lay back down on the soft, white bed and stared at the arched ceiling above him.

"I don't think you have a choice, young man." Gabriel stood up, taking a straight ivory staff in his hands. Steve glimpsed what looked like a cloak made of feathers draped across his back. "Because you don't seem like the kind of person who would let the rest of the world suffer."

At that, Gabriel left Steve alone to rest with his thoughts.

(O)

The following morning, Steve awoke to a young boy sitting at his bedside.

"Who are you?" he asked, uncomfortably.

"I'm Arod." the boy said plainly. "And I'm here to check on your prosthetics." He got up and pulled a handful of tools from a belt slung around his slender waist. He was dressed like a mechanic ready to fight a war, with a pair of goggles that made his hair stick up funny resting against his forehead, a leather satchel slung next to his toolbelt and close-fitting white armor.

"Let me get dressed first." Steve replied, still feeling awkward.

"Alright, but I'm just saying that we're both guys here." Arod shrugged his shoulders and turned around.

Steve glared into the boy's back before reaching for the set of loose linen clothes on the nightstand.

He dressed quickly, then rolled up his left pants leg to where the mechanical limb met his flesh. It ached to move, and the prosthetic nearly came to his hip.

Arod turned on his heel and fell onto his masterpiece, unlatching panels and tightening screws.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"Yes." Steve replied.

"Where?"

"Here." he pointed to a plate that covered part of his thigh.

"Not like that," Arod said exasperatedly, rolling his yellow-orange eyes. "I mean like this,"

Steve yelped as the boy jammed a screwdriver into the side of his kneecap. Arod frowned.

"Your nervous system needs to be recalibrated. Remind me, okay?" he said, pulling the screwdriver away and using it on Steve's metal toes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Steve grunted, trying to rub out the stab of pain he'd felt.

"Notch, you humans are dumb." Arod said. "When your body is feeling pain, it means that there is something wrong. If you can't feel any pain until I stab you, then that means your whole prosthetic could be completely destroyed and you wouldn't know until it fell off."

Steve remained silent after that, letting Arod do his work. He finished with Steve's leg, then tuned his arm, then took a step back.

"Try walking on it." Arod said.

"Arod," called a new voice. "He has to rest. He shouldn't be walking until next cycle."

Steve felt something inside of him stop as the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen stepped into the room. She was wearing a white dress, a feathered cape and a silver circlet on her head.

Her hair was the color of corn silk and looked just as soft, while her skin was like alabaster and her eyes like emeralds lit by torchlight.

"Go away, Lucien." Arod sighed. "He's fine."

"No he isn't, you little Ender Mite." Lucien said, smacking Arod over the head with the back of her hand. "Let's see _you_ be tortured for months and then I'll tell _you_ to get up and run around."

"I didn't tell him to run, I told him to walk." Arod snapped. "And he isn't a baby."

While they were bickering, Steve shakily got to his feet. His leg and his shoulder still felt horribly sore, but he managed to limp a few steps forward.

"See? Look!" Arod huffed. Lucien turned to Steve, making him freeze in his tracks. He couldn't understand it, but just knowing she was looking at him made all of his muscles lock up.

Lucien walked up to him, and Steve thought his heart would smash through his ribcage.

" _Hazhek_." she said, touching his forehead. The feeling died as suddenly as it had come. "Sorry about that, it's the side effects of a certain spell." she smiled.

"Huh." Steve managed. He felt flustered and as if he'd betrayed Althea for having feelings for another woman. Sure, Lucien was pretty, but Althea had so much more. She was kind and smart and wonderful with children and absolutely everything he had ever needed. _And_ pretty.

"How are you feeling?" Lucien asked. "After we saved you from Herobrine, we were really worried that you weren't going to survive."

"I'm fine." Steve replied flatly. "But I really need to leave."

"And go _where_?" Arod asked. "Everything is destroyed."

"I don't know." Steve began to hobble towards the door. "But if I don't keep moving, then Herobrine is going to find me."

"That's the least of your worries." Lucien said. "The Overworld is infested with the dark forces, and any humans left are either living underground or possessed by the Shade."

"Plus, the queens want to speak to you." Arod added. "After all, you're the master of the Book of the Valkyries."

Steve turned and looked back for a moment.

"I used to be." he whispered, then took the handle of the door and left.

He limped through the ivory hallways, leaning against the wall. He knew what Herobrine had done to the Overworld, but he also knew that there was a chance to save Althea. If Gabriel was right, then he could somehow bring her back.

Steve felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You can't leave." Lucien said. "None of us can wield the Books, and there aren't any humans left that are willing to help us. If you don't save us…then Herobrine wins."

She met his eyes, bright green against mournful blue.

"I _can't_." he said defiantly. "The last time I tried to save anyone, everything I ever cared about was taken away from me."

"Then now you have nothing to lose." Lucien told him. "So the only thing holding you back is yourself."

"She's right." Arod said from behind her.

Steve's fists clenched, a soft mechanical buzz coming from the pistons in his metal fingers.

"Fine. But if I fail, don't say I didn't warn you."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Steve spent the next few days gradually building up his strength. Arod, Lucien and Gabriel would come to visit him frequently, checking on his health and doing maintenance for his prosthetics.

However, on the third day of his recovery, Gabriel came with an extra set of clothes.

"What are these for?" Steve asked.

"Your audience with the queens of our realms." Gabriel replied curtly. "The queens and their councils have been waiting for you to recover. Here." the Valkyrie elder passed Steve a polished crutch to tuck under his arm.

Steve felt uncomfortable. He'd been living alone for twenty years, and the idea of someone waiting for him was disconcerting.

He took the garments from Gabriel and carefully dressed himself in the soft white tunic, pants and boots, avoiding the various wounds across his body. Afterwards, he raked his fingers through his hair to straighten it before following Gabriel back into the hallway.

The old man shuffled along at a surprisingly quick pace, his cape of feathers dragging behind him and his staff clunking on the floor. Steve limped beside him, wincing every once and awhile as his leg jarred unpleasantly.

By the time they reached a set of elaborately carved doors, Steve was exhausted. He leaned heavily on his crutch and tried to keep his breath even while Gabriel pulled open the doors.

Steve was ushered into a wide, circular atrium. Artificial sunlight filtered from glowing glass orbs near the ceiling, drifting around the branches of a large, curved tree. Below the tree flowed a little stream that emptied into a pond. Steve could see fish circling lazily in the water.

"Your majesties," Gabriel said, bowing. Steve gave a nod to the fifteen white-clad figures sitting at a long table

Two were women, one wearing a feather cape and the other dressed in pleated armor. What set them apart from the rest of the congregation were golden crowns resting on their heads.

They stood, regarding Steve with a fierce, regal gaze.

"There he is!" the woman in the armor cried, her face splitting into a grin. She walked over to Steve and clapped his shoulder. "I see the boy's gotten to you before I could."

Steve laughed nervously with her, unsure of what to do. He couldn't tell her to shove off because she was the queen, and in the face of royalty his personal space wasn't really an option.

"Eldemira," the other queen said, her feather cloak flaring open slightly. Steve blinked and looked back at the leader of the Valkyries. The capes he had seen them wearing weren't garments, they were _wings_. "He's injured. Refrain from making his condition worse."

"Ah, you worry too much, Liz." Queen Eldemira replied, waving a hand. "And don't call me Eldemira. It's _Ellie_."

She started to push Steve to a nearby chair, next to her and a Dragon Rider with a pointy nose.

The queen of the Valkyries gave an exasperated sigh.

"My apologies, Hero," she said, smiling. Her eyes were a pale grey, nearly matching the shade of her thick, silver hair. "Eldemira prefers to disregard formalities."

"Huh." Steve replied, adjusting himself in his chair.

"I am Queen Yelizaveta, ruler of the Valkyries. You've met Eldemira, ruler of the Dragon Riders, and these are our councilmen." Yelizaveta said. Nods of acknowledgement were exchanged.

"So, you have the Book of the Valkyries?" Eldemira interrupted, gazing at him with bright, amber eyes.

"Yes. I found it ten years ago in the Southern Desert." Steve replied. The councilmen murmured happily amongst themselves. "But it alone isn't strong enough to stop Herobrine. While the Book of the Valkyries has plenty of defensive magic, the Book of the Dragon Riders contains the offensive. I need that if I'm going to do _anything_."

"Do you know where it is?" Yelizaveta asked, leaning forward.

"On Falchemer's Island." Steve replied. Another ripple of hushed chatter sounded through the councilmen.

"No doubt it will be heavily guarded." One of the Valkyrie men said. "What's your plan to get it?"

"A mission of stealth." Steve replied instantly. He'd spent a lot of time contemplating escape and battle plans while suffering in hopelessness and boredom. "Send three or four of your most powerful fighters to the island undercover. The Book has a cloaking spell that will last for three hours."

"I like it!" Eldemira said, banging her armored fist on the table. "We leave as soon as the moon is full."

"Will three days be enough time for your strength to return?" Yelizaveta asked. "You'll need it if the Book is going to see you as a worthy owner."

"I think so." Steve replied. "But I want to be absolutely clear: I'm not doing this to save your people or the planet. I'm doing this because there's hope I can bring back the two people left in the universe that I love."

The two queens and their advisors regarded him coolly.

"Whatever puts fire in your mouth." Eldemira shrugged. Yelizaveta nodded at him.

"We will follow you to the end."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

"Have you returned with the reports yet?" Herobrine asked, chewing boredly on the end of a carrot. Since inhabiting a body, he'd discovered that eating carrots was a wonderful way to focus thoughts.

"Why else would I still be here?" the Ender Dragon asked pointedly. The tip of her tail twitched in irritation. "Khazrael and Cambria have made no signs of rebuttal since two weeks ago. I think they've realized the world is no longer in their power."

"But as long as the guardian forest remains, the Valkyries and the Dragon Riders are still a threat." Herobrine mused. "So I suggest that you find a way to destroy their borders."

"Yes, my lord." the Ender Dragon sighed, giving a small bow. She turned to leave but was stopped by Herobrine's call.

"I'm not done yet." he said. "I also need you to go to Falchemer's Island and guard the Book of the Dragon Riders. Even with Steve out of the picture, I _don't_ want one of those adventure-story-happy-endings ruining everything. You know, the ones with the human rebellions and the big schmooze scene at the end?"

"Why does it matter if Steve is…dead?" she replied carefully. Herobrine didn't know that the body had simply disappeared. She hadn't actually _seen_ him die, and she had no proof that he hadn't escaped.

"Better safe than sorry." Herobrine told her, putting his feet up on the table. "Oh, and one more thing," he gestured for her to come closer, and she did.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Hold still." he reached out and touched a spot on her forehead. " _Lem merech holath kelementai rostachel._ "

The Ender Dragon went rigid and her eyes glazed over, while Herobrine drew a black ring from his pocket. He slipped it over her middle finger, then released her.

She snapped back into existence, staggering backwards with wide eyes.

"What did you do to me?" she gasped, looking at the ring. Herobrine gave a wry smile.

"Something tells me that you are the weakest link in my forces. You're half human, and that means it won't be hard to purge you from your body, and the forces of light know that too. That ring is a fail-safe, just in case the Valkyries get any ideas." Herobrine said.

The Ender Dragon felt both offended and nervous.

"What is it going to do?" she asked.

"That ring will keep the human girl from truly returning to her body. If you somehow get yourself exorcized and she regains control of her mind…" he chuckled cruelly. "This ring will inject Wither venom and destroy her."

"But what happens to me?" the Ender Dragon asked indignantly. This had been going on ever since the Archwither was summoned, and she was getting tired of being undermined.

"You'll go back to Notch, I assume." Herobrine said simply.

"If I'm going back, then I'm taking you with me." she hissed, a low growl forming in her throat.

"Well, don't get killed." he replied snappishly. "It isn't _that_ hard."

"I don't plan on it."

(O)

Three days passed without so much as a wave goodbye, and Steve was already overwhelmed by new responsibilities. The queens thought that the best way to share his knowledge of the Books was to dub him High General of both the Valkyrie and Dragon Rider armies.

Which was almost as bad as being tortured by Herobrine.

All of the sudden commanders and captains were coming to him with reports and asking for instructions or battle plans. In the span of a night, he was in charge of training soldiers, passing on spells to generals and mages _and_ leading the search for Althea.

Even though his strange sleep-schedule allowed him to go for days at a time without sleep, his injuries and his duties were exhausting him to the point that he went to bed early _every night_.

He didn't think he'd have enough energy to complete the mission he himself had come up with, and he half-wondered if he could send someone else in his stead. But, Gabriel had demonstrated that the Light Races couldn't even _hold_ the Books, and the pages appeared blank to them. They were made for human hands so that their creators couldn't abuse them. Herobrine had apparently found a loophole in that plan.

"Are you ready, General?" Gabriel asked, carefully helping Steve strap on his armor. Healing potions were in low supply, but Steve had managed a recovery without much of their aid. Gabriel was a fine enough healer to testify to that.

"No." Steve replied, flexing his fingers and listening to the sounds his prosthetic hand made. Arod had come in for tuning sessions, fiddling with bolts and pistons until he was satisfied.

"Well, you're going to have to be," Gabriel said, cinching up the buckles on his breastplate. The elegant white armor fit well and was so light that Steve could barely feel it. "We'll do our best to aid you, but we can only do so much."

Steve nodded at this and took a sword belt from the Valkyrie, strapping it around his waist. The sword he selected yesterday rested inside the scabbard.

"Come," Gabriel said, walking out of the room and down the hallway to the courtyard in front of the palace. Steve followed behind, ignoring the awed stares of Valkyries he passed by.

His palms started to get sweaty at the thought of meeting the finest warriors among the Light Races. They were the ones who were going to go with him against all odds with hope that they would save their people.

Unfortunately, they were not who he expected.

Arod and Lucien were waiting in the courtyard beside a glittering grey dragon. It was a she-dragon, smaller than the original Ender Dragon, with large blue eyes and a streak of iridescent, pearly scales running across her muzzle and down her spine.

"What are they doing here?" Steve asked Gabriel.

"We're your team." Arod piped, mounting his dragon.

"I asked for the best fighters the queens could give me." Steve replied sharply.

"Sorry to burst your egotistical bubble, but we _are_ the best fighters the queens can offer." Lucien replied, ruffling her feathers indignantly. She had replaced her dress with close-fitting armor. "Who do you think saved your butt

from Herobrine?"

Steve opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came to him.

"Just get on the dragon, _General_." Arod said.

Steve reluctantly climbed into the saddle behind the boy and tried not to yell as his mount leapt into the air and spread her wings. Gabriel and Lucien followed close behind.

(O)

Falchemer's Island was completely unrecognizable, a blistered red stretch of land swimming in a syrupy, contaminated sea. It used to be all rainforest, but now it was stripped of plant life.

Steve had silently watched the tortured land scroll by, trying not to think about what he could have done to stop it. He knew there wasn't anything to be done now, but if he had known what was going to happen, he would have made different decisions. He would have chosen different words to say when Michael came to him for help dealing with bullies at school. He would have gone to Father Alexander sooner. If he had known then what he knew now, Steve would have killed Michael and let Althea die if he could have stopped this.

The thought brought tears to his eyes, but he was willing to make that sacrifice if it meant others got to keep the ones they loved. If he could, he would be willing to suffer so that the rest of the world wouldn't have to.

But that choice was behind him.

There was still a chance to defeat Herobrine, stop the Ender Dragon and save the only family he had left.

Steve brought his hand to his face and rubbed away tears, imagining a life with Michael and Althea, away from war and turmoil, where he could raise a family of his own without the fear of waking up one day to see this hell that had spread over the earth.

"Brace yourself!" Arod called from in front of him. "Hasufel is going to land in those rocks over there!"

The dragon circled around and dove sharply behind a ridge of scattered boulders, making Steve's stomach lurch unpleasantly.

He quickly slid off of Hasufel's back, eyeing the dragon carefully. He hadn't met very many in his life, but the one that he _had_ encountered was not friendly.

Lucien and Gabriel landed beside him, drawing their weapons.

"Make haste." Gabriel said, shuffling away.

They crept along in silence, trying to avoid loose rocks and ducking past Withers roaming around. A few of the guards were humans, men and women with glowing white eyes.

Hasufel let out a nervous growl.

"Shh, steady girl." Arod whispered, patting her muzzle. She didn't go quiet, instead stared at a place in the rocks.

Steve held up a hand.

"Wait," he said. "Someone's—" he was cut off as someone leaped from the shadows, forced him to the ground and held a knife to his back.

"Don't move or he dies." hissed a voice. Lucien, Gabriel, and Arod went rigid, their eyes wide.

"Do you serve Herobrine?" Gabriel asked.

"No." It was a man's voice, and _very_ familiar. "Do you?"

"Do we _look_ like those guys?" Lucien asked sarcastically.

"No, but where are you taking Steve?" the man asked. Steve couldn't turn his head to see his assailant, but he didn't know enough men to make guessing very hard.

"We're going to save your people, human." Arod said stuffily. "So back off."

A silence followed, and the pressure holding Steve's arms against his back lifted, allowing him to get to his feet.

"John?" he asked incredulously. Althea's brother regarded him with the same summer-green eyes as his sister, but from behind a mask constructed from a skull.

He was dressed in animal skins, bones and plates of metal that had been dyed or painted red and black to blend in with the stone. From where he'd been lying flat on the ground, he looked like scattered remains. He made a hand signal, and other piles of bones stood up and surrounded them, pointing spears at them.

John held out a knife.

"Where is my sister?" he asked, deathly seriously.

"She's been…taken by Herobrine." Steve replied. "But…I didn't know you were alive. It's good to see you."

"I wish I could say the same." John replied, still pointing the dagger at Steve's chest.

"John, we're trying to help you." Steve said. "And we're trying to save Althea in the process."

"He's a liar." growled a light, slender figure.

"May?" Steve asked. She glared at him from behind another skull-mask. He looked around and thought he recognized Katie, Diane and Lewis amongst the eleven present.

"If you were trying to help us, where were you two months ago when Dad was killed?" Diane asked bitterly, jabbing at Steve with her spear.

"If you really want to know, I was in a dungeon being tortured to death." Steve replied sharply. "But now I'm back and I could use your help."

"General, this was supposed to be a mission of stealth." Lucien murmured softly.

"Lucien, they're ninjas. I think they know a thing or two about stealth." Arod told her.

"Why are you _really_ here?" John asked.

"We're looking for a book called the Book of the Dragon Riders. If I can get to it, then I can lead a charge against Herobrine and finally stop him." Steve explained.

"I thought you were here to 'save Althea.'" Katie hissed.

"I am. Once Herobrine is dead, I can get her back." Steve told them. Suddenly, Hasufel's head jerked upwards and she let out a hiss.

"Yeah, good luck with that." said a horribly familiar voice.

Steve looked up at the figure standing above them on a ridge, and his heart wrenched.

The Ender Dragon.

 ***** **Brief Notice:** **The names Hasufel and Arod belong to Lord of the Rings. =)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

The Ender Dragon growled and began to stalk across the rocks, her tail lashing. John and the others held up their spears.

"Put your sticks down, it isn't going to stop me." she sighed. "Besides, I just want to talk." She laid down on a ledge, folding her arms in front of her and letting her tail curl over the side.

"Yeah, right!" Arod cried angrily. "You're a traitor to our kind! Why should we trust you?" Hasufel snarled violently beside him and bared her teeth.

Steve held a hand across the boy's chest.

"Wait," he told him. "What do you want?"

"Revenge." the Ender Dragon replied to him, looking at Gabriel and Lucien with disdain. She absently chewed at a black ring around her finger. "Lately Herobrine hasn't been keeping his promises, and I want him out of the picture."

Steve lowered his sword. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her face. It was still the face of the woman he loved. The round cheekbones, strong—but not large—nose, full lips…all of Althea's features were there, except for her deep green eyes.

"What are you suggesting?" he asked.

The Ender Dragon smiled and jumped down from her perch, making John's warriors and Steve's team flinch where they stood. Hasufel let out a hiss, her scales rising like the fur on an animal.

Steve went rigid as the Ender Dragon advanced, stopping only a few inches away from him.

"If you get rid of Herobrine, I'll not only _give_ you the Book of the Dragon Riders, I'll help you kill him." she said slowly.

"How do we know that we won't try to kill each other behind one another's backs?" Steve replied thickly. The Ender Dragon held up a clawed hand, displaying the black band fastened around her finger.

"Herobrine put this on me as a fail-safe. If I die, so does she." Steve's mouth went dry. "Put simply, I need you and you need me. Got that, handsome?"

"General, I don't think working with her would be wise." Gabriel whispered.

"I'd think not." John snarled. He grabbed a spear from his sister and lunged forward, driving the tip into the Ender Dragon's gut.

She growled and twisted out of the way, then grabbed at John's arm. Her claws sliced through the red-dyed fabric of his sleeve and raked open his flesh. He grunted in pain, but didn't falter. Instead he took his knife and jammed it into the Ender Dragon's ribs. She let out a wail and yanked John's arm, leaning forward and sinking her teeth into the crook of his neck.

"John!" Diane shouted. She and her siblings rushed forward, but were stopped by Steve.

"Don't!" he cried. "We need her help!"

Diane whirled on him.

"You should have thought of that before you abandoned us." she growled. She held her weapon against his throat as her companions converged on the Ender Dragon.

In a few moments, she was lying on the ground unconscious, her arms and wings bound.

"What are you doing?" Steve cried. "She was going to help us!"

John got to his feet, clutching his wounds and his face contorted in pain.

"She still is. As ransom." he grunted. He made a hand signal and his warriors grabbed the Ender Dragon by her ankle and started to drag her away. "Now, I never want to see you again, Steven Bates. If I do, you'll regret it."

"We aren't about to let you walk away." Gabriel suddenly said. Steve glared at him as Lucien and Arod stood beside him. Neither of them had lifted so much as a finger to help. "General, what are your orders?"

Steve blinked, the pieces fitting together. They were waiting for _him_.

Fortunately, he didn't have to give any orders. There was a growl, and the Ender Dragon's eyes flew open. She let out a roar and thrashed where she lay, snapping her bonds.

The commotion had alerted the Withers creeping around the island, and the ridge was suddenly peppered by black-skinned guards.

"General, now would be a good time to leave." Lucien said in an irritated tone.

"No." Steve replied. He looked at the injured John and his men as they struggled to keep the Ender Dragon under control. "Now is a good time to gain some allies."

He watched one of the Withers, a tall, slender black figure draw a bow and take aim at John.

Steve waited until the last moment before he jumped in front of John, catching the arrow in his mechanical fist and snapping it in the process.

"Leave this to me and take your men to safety." Steve said sharply. A few more Withers pulled on their bowstrings.

John seemed to think about this.

"Alright. But don't think that this changes anything." he said. The world was starting to turn blurry from blood loss. He gave the signal for retreat, and his warriors scattered amongst the rocks, disappearing as soon as they left. He leaned heavily on Diane as she leapt nimbly down the stony beach towards the tiny boats that would be their escape.

Diane carefully laid her brother in the floor of the boat, then cast off and relied on the swirling eddies and currents to bring her to the shore across the strait. She watched the oily black water ripple around her, toxic to touch and deadly to drink.

Ever since the world had ended, the remaining humans had been forced to live underground in the caves near bedrock. There were terrifying numbers of mobs and a lack of light and air, but there _was_ food, water and safety from Herobrine.

"Diane," John called quietly. "Did the others make it out?"

"Yes. Steve has provided an adequate distraction." she replied.

John frowned and clutched his bleeding wounds tighter.

"But we failed the mission. We don't have the Book." he said. Diane watched him for a moment.

"John, Steve was with the Light Races. I think it's better that he claims the Book. Aside from that, they called him 'General.'"

"How do we know that he isn't going to use it for himself?" John spat. "He abandoned us to Herobrine, and it's _his_ fault that Dad and Althea are gone!"

Diane let out a mournful sigh and remained silent for several hours.

(O)

"Let's go." Diane said as their small boat bumped against the shore. A few of the others had arrived previously at the small lagoon that the currents flowed into.

She put an arm around John and helped him rise out of the boat, then guided him to shore.

"John, are you alright?" Katie asked, inspecting the wound. Lewis and May were right behind her.

"I'm fine. Let's go home." he said bluntly. He went into a grove of dead, charred trees and led out one of the skeletal horses that had been found wandering around after the End. They were passive and easy to tame, and were extraordinary mounts because they required no maintenance aside from saddle care.

He mounted the creature and waited for his warriors to join him on their own beasts, then rode off across the wasteland.

The ride took several days, but eventually they came to the mouth of a cave. John slid out of the saddle, wincing as his arm jarred, then led the skeletal horse into the tunnel. It was narrow and winding and was only just wide enough to let them through, but it suddenly opened into an enormous ravine. The ravine was spanned by wooden bridges harvested from abandoned mine shafts and led down to another set of caves.

Lookouts called from their hidden perches in the rocks, watching the company descend to the caves.

A few guards dressed in grey took the horses as John walked through a stone arch into a village made of rock and wood and scraps of cloth. Ragged people milled around, talking and trading and collecting water from a spring that ran through the village.

Some looked up and waved as John walked by, calling to their chief and asking how the mission went.

He simply replied that he would tell the entire village when the time came and kept walking.

"Papa! Papa!" cried a voice, and a little blonde girl of about four years ran up to him. John smiled and picked her up with his good arm, kissing her cheek as she threw her tiny arms around his neck. She was skinny and underfed, but so were most people in the Underground.

"Hey, Elaine." he smiled. He looked up and saw a tall, slender woman with a baby boy bundled in a sling across her back. Alexandra Laughlin put her arms around him and kissed him gently, her large brown eyes swimming with relief.

"What happened to you?" she asked when she saw the blood on his clothes.

"We ran into some unexpected opposition." John sighed. "I'll tell the entire village in three hours, but for now I need to lay down."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Steve thought that he was going to keel over by the time every single patrol on the island had been sent to Notch. His shoulder and leg ached where the prosthetics met his limbs, his chest heaved and perspiration beaded on his face. He'd also sustained multiple small scratches and wounds that made his skin sticky with a thin layer of blood.

"Good job." the Ender Dragon sneered. She'd retreated to a ledge on the rocks to nurse her injuries. "Now Herobrine knows where we are."

"General, we should make haste." Gabriel said wisely. The end of his staff was stained with Wither blood. He started to shuffle off in a southern direction.

"Hold on, gramps." the Ender Dragon sighed, leaping down from her perch. "You aren't going anywhere until Stevie and I come to an agreement. Herobrine is on his way with the Archwither, and you're going to need my help to get the stupid Book."

"How about we just kill you now and forget this ever happened?" Arod snapped, holding up his sword. Hasufel snorted in agreement.

"Look, the truth is that I need your help." the Ender Dragon added bitterly. "Herobrine thinks that _he's_ dead, and when he finds out that I failed at my job, I'm toast."

"Good riddance then." Lucien huffed.

"I'm serious," the Ender Dragon said. "The point is that I need you and you need me. And if we can't make some sort of alliance, then you can say goodbye to your chances of stopping Herobrine and you can forget about Althea Laughlin."

Steve stared at her for a long while, a strange expression on his dirty, blood-spattered face.

"Don't do it." Arod warned. "She's betrayed her kind once, and she'll do it again if you give her the chance."

"We don't have any other choice." Steve finally said. "Show us to the Book."

The Ender Dragon's shoulders sagged with visible relief.

"It's this way." she said. At that, she spread her wings and took to the sky.

(O)

The caves were filled with nervous chatter when John finished telling his people what had happened.

"So the Light Races are on our side?" a voice called.

"Or are they out to destroy us too?" another cried.

"Do we have to leave the village?"

"What does this mean for our children?"

A thousand more questions followed faster than John could answer them. He simply held up his good hand and the crowd quieted.

"I don't know what is going to happen in the future." he said, his voice echoing around the caves. "But the Light Races are our only hope. I couldn't get the Book of Notch, but a man called Steven Bates is after the same thing. I've met him before, and he's dangerous, but I know that if anyone can stop Herobrine, it's him."

"Then what do you propose we do?" cried Father Alpheus, their surviving cleric and expert on the Books of Notch. "Without the Book, we're lost!"

"We put our faith in the unknown." John replied heavily, then stepped down off of the rock he'd been standing on.

Alexandra was waiting for him with Elaine at her side and baby Bracken cradled to her chest. Elaine smiled and reached out for him, and he picked her up in his uninjured arm.

"Good job, Papa." she grinned, leaning into his collar.

"Thanks, Lainey." he replied tiredly. He planted a kiss against her forehead. Elaine wasn't _really_ his child, but he loved her like one. She was the last surviving member of the Harcourt family, which used to be the richest and most powerful family in Iceridge before her brother Jarom went missing, her father was killed and her mother was driven mad before she was possessed by the Shade.

John had found her by the gate as he was trying to get his own family out of the city. She'd been crying out for help and bleeding from what was now a long, pale scar running down her forehead, over her eye and across her cheek.

He saved her, and Alexandra had agreed with him that an adoption was in order.

John had been caring for her during the past weeks, and she had thoughtlessly claimed him as her father. Since then, it was as if Elaine's life before the End hadn't existed.

John sighed heavily and sat down on the edge of a tunnel looking into the ravine, holding Elaine close and watching a rivulet of lava flow down the opposite side of the fissure.

Alexandra sat close beside him, laying her hand against his lower back.

"It's going to be alright." she said tenderly. In truth, he didn't believe her. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to protect the people who depended on him if he found out that his decision to trust Steve was a mistake. He knew how dangerous that man was, and he couldn't bear the thought of failing his people…his family.

Little Bracken stirred in Alexandra's arms and began to quietly cry. She gently shushed him, then brought him to her breast to nurse. John watched him with a mournful expression on his face.

He didn't want his son to grow up without knowing the feeling of sunshine, or the smell of autumn wind or the taste of strawberries in the summer. He didn't want Elaine to mature knowing that she lost something so precious, but could never have again.

He quickly prayed to Notch, begging for Steve to win the fight he'd been struggling against for twenty years.

(O)

The Ender Dragon led them to the heart of the island, where a jagged crack bubbling with what looked like End Portal slime.

"This is it." she said. "The Book is at the bottom, but if you just jumped in, it would teleport you to the End."

Arod and the Valkyries looked at each other and shuddered. They remembered the place well. It was a dark and sunless place, with only the bitter chorus fruit to eat.

"Then how do we get to it?" Steve asked. His sword felt heavy in his hand.

"When he created me, Herobrine used a quartz-iron alloy and Ghast tears as a catalyst for the portal. I don't have the alloy, but I do have Ghast tears." she opened her inventory and drew out a little white vial. "When combined with my powers, these will temporarily close the dimensional rift and give you exactly sixty seconds of time before it wears off."

"How do you know that's going to work?" Lucien protested. She stood closer to Steve, her feathers slightly raised.

"I trust her." Steve said, walking towards the crack. "Do what you need to." He nodded at the Ender Dragon, then started to shed the heavier pieces of his armor.

"Hold your breath, handsome." she said, then tipped the vial of tears into the black sludge. After that, she closed her eyes and sat at the edge, muttering in a language he didn't know. The goop bubbled, then turned a milky grey color.

Steve glanced back at the others, received a nod from Gabriel, then leapt head-first into the pool.

It was like swimming through corn syrup. Progress was excruciatingly slow, and the thick liquid threatened to suffocate him before he even reached the bottom. Fortunately, his fingers collided with the bottom of the crevice roughly ten seconds after he had jumped. He began to feel around the stone, desperately probing for something remotely book-like.

His lungs were beginning to scream by the time he found it, tucked into a little nook of the wall. He pulled it to his chest and kicked off the bottom, one hand extended above his head.

Suddenly, his arm jarred violently against a stone ceiling. He'd swam into some sort of tunnel.

He wasn't keeping track at the time, but there were twenty seconds left before the Ender Dragon's enchantment wore off.

His heart leapt into his throat as he felt along the ceiling trapping him below the surface. There had to be a way.

Fifteen seconds.

He was starting to feel light-headed.

Ten seconds.

The rocky roof above him started to slope upwards.

Five seconds.

He found the edge of the tunnel!

Four.

He frantically began to kick towards the surface.

Three.

After some time, he realized that his prosthetics were weighing him down.

Two.

His breath began to give out as his body went numb.

One.

He wasn't going to make it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

"General!" Lucien cried as Gabriel hauled Steve out of the portal by the back of his shirt. The Book was clenched in his stiff, mechanical hand. The rest of his body was limp, and his olive-colored skin was beginning to pale.

Gabriel leaned forward and placed an ear against Steve's chest. His face fell.

"He's dead." he muttered. "Notch Almighty, he's _dead_."

Arod let out an angry cry.

"You knew!" he jabbed a finger at the Ender Dragon, shakily rising to her feet. The enchantment had taken a lot out of her. "You knew that he would drown in there!"

Lucien ran to Steve's body and knelt beside him, taking his face in her hands. His skin was coated in a fine layer of residual fluid from the portal.

She murmured several lines of a healing incantation, tilting his head to the side while her magic drew the grey, syrupy liquid from his lungs. A small pool of the stuff gathered by his head until there was no longer any left, but Steve did not stir.

"No…." Lucien whispered. She gently shook his shoulders and even tried slapping him.

"You think I would kill him on purpose?" the Ender Dragon cried indignantly.

"You said yourself that Herobrine asked you to get rid of him!" Arod shouted. "Steve was our last hope and you killed him!"

"I thought he could hold his breath longer than—" suddenly she went rigid, her violet eyes wide. Her mouth opened and shut like a fish below water while her body began to shake.

Suddenly, the scales on her body turned from black to ivory white and her eyes melted into summer green. Tears began to flow down her face like little streams.

"Steve…" she gasped. Her voice was no longer deep and velvety, but soft and torn with grief.

Arod moved forward, but Gabriel held a hand across the boy's chest.

"Wait." he said softly.

The Ender Dragon staggered forward and fell to her knees beside Steve's body, grabbing him and cradling his head to her chest.

"Steve, no, you can't do this…" she sobbed. "Please, wake up…I need you…you were supposed to save me…Steve, please. _Please._ " She pressed her forehead against his and rocked back and forth, crying wholeheartedly.

"Gabriel," Lucien whispered. "What is she doing?" Gabriel smiled gently.

"That, my dear, is Althea Laughlin." he replied softly. "She's still in there."

"Aw, how sweet." hissed a voice.

The three whirled around and saw a man with brilliant white eyes, tan skin and a blue T-shirt and jeans flanked by a creature that could only be the Archwither. A small platoon of Shade stood behind them.

Althea looked up with sheer terror in her eyes, pulling Steve closer to her breast. Then all at once, she let out a strangled cry. Her head jerked upwards and her scales once again became midnight black. She lurched away from Steve, letting him fall limp on the ground.

The Ender Dragon's chest was heaving when she looked up.

"My lord." she gasped, clearly rattled.

"Well, well, _well_." Herobrine sighed, stepping forward. The Archwither remained behind. "This is certainly interesting. Oh, look! Is that Steve? I thought he was _dead_." He shot a piercing glare at the Ender Dragon, who shrunk back from his gaze.

"H-he is. Now." she gulped.

"Now is the time to leave." Gabriel whispered to Arod and Lucien. Hasufel grunted in reply, and in a single swift movement, she was airborne with Arod on her back and Steve's corpse stiffening in her talons. The Book of the Dragon Riders was still clamped in his cold, metallic fingers.

The Ender Dragon watched the two Valkyries take off after the dragon like seagulls chasing a scrap of bread. To her surprise, Herobrine didn't seem to notice or even care.

"Then how on earth did he survive in the first place?" Herobrine asked, tapping his chin. "Hmm…let's see…were there any _traitors_ milling around?"

"No! No…" she cried. "I went in to check on him and then he was gone! I swear I didn't have anything to do with it! And you just saw; he's dead now! Please, my lord, show mercy."

"Mm, I _could_." he teased. "But I don't really want to."

Lucien stopped midflight when she heard a scream below. Herobrine had driven what looked like a black sword through the Ender Dragon's stomach, spilling shimmering, violet blood across the rocks.

The memory of what had occurred only minutes ago rushed through the Valkyrie's mind, of Althea suddenly regaining control of her body.

"Gabriel, we have to go back and help her!" she cried. "Althea is still in there! Maybe we can save her and then—"

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch!" called a voice. Lucien looked up and nearly cried with relief.

Queens Eldemira and Yelizaveta had appeared in the sky, leading an army of seven hundred.

Herobrine looked up and saw them too.

"Well, crap."

(O)

 _Steve. Steve. Steve._

A soft voice called out miserably through the darkness, like ripples on a pond.

Steve thickly wondered what he should do.

 _Go to her, my master. Seek her out._

He nodded and started walking—if one could call it _walking_ —through the fuzzy, warm blackness that had surrounded him after he realized that he wasn't going to escape the End Portal in time.

Death was a funny sensation, as if he had stood up too quickly and the effect hadn't worn off. He dimly remembered watching Gabriel drag his body from the portal, Arod flying off with his carcass and an enormous battle following, but after that he'd been pulled into a void.

 _Steve._

The voice seemed to be growing louder, and by now Steve could recognize its faults. It was choked with sobs, but it also cracked and changed pitch like some sort of vocal illness.

He began to move faster, turning invisible corners and jumping over invisible gaps in an invisible floor until he turned a corner and saw a pale figure on the floor.

 _Steve. Steve._ she sobbed, rocking back and forth and tearing at her chest with her fingers. He saw that slender black chains were wound around her body, trailing off into the darkness like serpents.

He recognized her immediately.

Steve spoke her name and reached out to lay a hand against her soft, pale back.

Her head jerked upwards and she gazed at him while strands of blonde hair fell into her teary, green eyes. Then her face contorted.

 _He's dead! Steve's gone!_ she wailed.

Steve knelt beside her and shook his head, telling her that he was here and that he was alright, but she barely seemed to know he was there.

 _I don't think that's going to work._

He looked up and saw the Ender Dragon crawl out of the shadows and lay down. She had returned to the form that she had possessed before Steve had killed her.

He asked her what she meant, and she replied with,

 _That's only a piece of her._

Steve looked at the Ender Dragon expectantly, earning a heavy sigh. She shifted where she lay, folding her front talons in front of her.

 _Life is separated into three parts: the Mind, the Body and the Spirit. What you're looking at right there is her spirit without a mind or a body. I have control of the mind and the body, but at the same time, I don't have any of my own._

Steve looked down at the pale, shuddering figure lying in his arms.

 _We're three parts of the same whole now. And that ring on our finger is going to keep it that way unless one of your Valkyrie friends decides to exorcise me, in which case we both die._

He stared at the Ender Dragon, pain on his face and tears threatening to spill down his face. He asked if there was any way to get her back.

 _Probably,_ the Ender Dragon replied. _But if I knew, I wouldn't tell you. This is_ my _body now. If I were you, I would assume that your girlfriend is dead and move on with your life._

She said no more after that.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

 ***Brief Notice:** **Look! I'm back! I have conquered writers block!**

The Ender Dragon didn't speak anymore. The only sound was Althea's soft cries of despair and Steve's gentle promises of relief to her. He had no idea what to do next, no idea which actions to take.

Fortunately, he didn't have to decide.

Cold air rushed into his lungs, his heart gave an awful lurch, and his muscles clenched as he sat bolt upright. The blackness, the Ender Dragon and Althea dissolved, becoming a gilded white cathedral.

The Book of the Valkyries and the Book of the Dragon Riders fell open in his lap, a message scrawled across their pages, over and over like a mantra.

 _It is not yet time for your passing_.

"Dear Notch!" a voice screamed in sheer terror. Steve looked over and saw Gabriel as he collapsed onto his rear, his eyes wide and his feathers standing on end. Steve stared at him, feeling cold and numb.

"What happened?" he asked after a crushing moment of silence. His mouth felt dry and chalky, as if he had eaten a fistful of sand. Gabriel just sat there, staring at him.

Steve swung his legs over the edge of the heavy marble slab he'd been laying on and tucked the Books in to his inventory. He realized he was wearing armor, and that someone had combed his hair.

"Y-you're alive?" Gabriel choked. Steve experimentally rolled his shoulders, flexing his fingers. Pins-and-needles prickled beneath his skin.

"Apparently." he concluded, drawing a deep breath. "What happened while I was…um…out?"

"The Queens drove back Herobrine and the Archwither. Many of our people died for your cause," Gabriel reported. Steve felt sick. "We were prepared to bury you tonight," Gabriel continued. "Apparently you had other plans." Steve gave a chuckle at this, running his fingers through his hair and staring at the floor of the cathedral. "The Ender Dragon is in our custody, but refuses to tell us anything about Althea—"

"Let me talk to her." Steve said, getting to his feet. His knees wobbled beneath him, as if he had forgotten how to walk.

"Well," Gabriel sighed. "Alright. But I doubt that you'll get anything out of her. We even promised her freedom if she would tell us everything she knew, and she refused."

Gabriel ushered Steve out of the cathedral where his funeral had been held three days before and led him down a flight of stairs to a set of barred doors. Steve's legs felt stiff and sore from the trip.

"I doubt that you'll find a way to talk to Althea," Gabriel remarked as he inserted a key into an elaborate lock. The door let out a series of clicks and rattles as it unlocked. "The Ender Dragon's will is _very_ strong."

"When I was…dead…I saw her. She's still in there." Steve said quietly. Gabriel gazed at him for a moment, eyeing him carefully. Then, the Valkyrie silently pushed open the door.

A pair of pale violet eyes greeted him from the wide, circular cell.

"Back from the dead, Stevie?" the Ender Dragon mused with a smile. She sat in the far corner of the room, her scales as dark as tar. Steve saw a ring in the floor with a long chain coming off of it. The ends were fastened around her ankles.

"Gabriel," Steve looked at the old Valkyrie. "Give us ten minutes."

"Be careful," Gabriel replied. Then, he shut the door behind him. The lights in the ceiling grew a little brighter as Steve walked towards the Ender Dragon. She watched him silently as he knelt on the ground in front of her.

"Can I talk to Althea?" he asked.

"She doesn't want to come out right now," the Ender Dragon sneered. "Just like I told your underlings, she's not in the mood for idle chit-chat."

"You owe these people your life," Steve retorted, glancing at the bandages wound around the Ender Dragon's midsection. "I'm just asking for ten minutes with her, after that, I will consider your debt repaid."

"No you won't. You'll come back and want to see her again and again until she's stronger than I am. This is _my_ body, and I'm not going to give it up that easily." she growled. "Besides, she thinks you're still dead."

"Ten minutes," Steve persisted. "Then she's yours."

She narrowed her eyes at him, bitter violet versus sea-glass blue. He was giving her a look that made her dizzy, both intense and gentle at the same time.

"Fine," she said reluctantly. "I'll see if I can get her to come out of her little bubble of despair."

The Ender Dragon shut her eyes and drew a breath. Steve leaned forward in eager anticipation. His heart began to beat more forcefully in his chest.

The Ender Dragon growled low in her throat, her face contorting in ways that made it seem like she was having a conversation. For a moment, it seemed as if the color in her scales was leaching away.

Then it died.

"Sorry," the Ender Dragon told the man in front of her. "She didn't believe me when I told her you were alive. She's—mmf!"

She grunted as Steve leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers for a brief moment. "Why you little—!" she raised her fist to punch him, but suddenly went rigid. Her scales began to pale a bit.

"Althea," Steve called. "Althea, it's me,"

The Ender Dragon growled, straining to win a silent battle of wills. Steve turned his eyes to her.

"You said you would let me talk to her," he hissed.

"No…I said…I would _try_ …I didn't expect her to….urgh!" the Ender Dragon groaned. Green was bleeding into her flat purple eyes and white was seeping into the black of her armor. Althea was winning.

Steve felt himself smile as he leaned closer to her, gently stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. Then all at once, the Ender Dragon resigned.

"S-Steve?" Althea whimpered.

(O)

I saw him, kneeling in front of me, his fingers gently trailing across my face. He was dressed in Valkyrie burial armor and was immaculately clean…as if he'd just barely walked out of the tomb.

"You're…you're really here?" I whispered, reaching for him. He pulled me into his arms, letting me feel the warmth of his body where his skin met mine.

"Yes," he whispered, gently kissing my ear. "I'm alive, and I'm going to bring you back to the way you used to be. I p—"

"No!" I cried, jerking away from him. "You can't promise!"

Steve looked at me with a worried expression on his face.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because you _can't_ bring me back," I told him desperately. "I…this…that thing that Herobrine did to me…it's permanent."

Steve stared at me for a long time, studying my face. His eyes roved over the line of spikes trailing down my neck, my long, sharp teeth and the scales covering my body like a suit of armor.

Then, he gently took my clawed hand in his and kissed my fingers.

"I love you anyway," he whispered. Joy ballooned in my chest, blasting away the worry that had been chewing at my divided consciousness. I smiled and came close to him, letting him wrap his arms around me as best he could without bumping into something sharp.

"Tell me how you came back," I asked, nuzzling his neck with the tip of my nose. Steve reached up and stroked my hair with a cool, hard hand and—I paused. I twisted around and grabbed his wrist, examining his fingers. They were made of solid metal. "And what happened to your arm!"

"I lost it along the way. They got my leg too." Steve sighed heavily. He rapped at his thigh with his knuckles, earning a hollow _clack_!

"I guess we've both been through a lot." I murmured, reaching out and touching his leg. No warmth seeped through his armor. Steve let out another sigh and laid his mechanical hand against my waist.

"I'm glad that I get to see you again," he said. "Even if it's like this."

"Yeah," I agreed, tracing his neck with the back of my hand. I knew that my claws were very, very sharp, and I didn't want to hurt him accidentally. Then, he drew me closer to him and rested his nose against the curve of my cheek. A moment later, I closed the gap between us and kissed him.


End file.
